HARTFORD, Conn. — As NASA's Artemis I mission reaches the tail end of its trip around the moon, Gov. Ned Lamont is highlighting the 44 businesses in Connecticut that helped make the launch and the mission possible.
There were 23 companies that supplied parts for NASA's Launch System rocket, considered the most powerful rocket built to date.
As for the Orion spacecraft, 14 companies provided the critical materials to build the craft that could eventually take humans farther in space than ever before.
Also vital to the launch, 10 companies manufactured supplies for the Exploration Ground Systems at Kennedy Space Center.
There is one Connecticut company assisting in the development of NASA's Human Landing System Program, the final mode of transportation that will someday take astronauts to the lunar surface.
Another local company is working on Gateway, a multi-purpose outpost that will give long-term support for human missions to the lunar surface and serve as a staging point for deep space exploration. The outpost would orbit the moon.
Here's the full list of companies in Connecticut that contributed to NASA's Artemis I mission:
- Berlin: Budney Industries Inc.
- Berlin: Space Electronics LLC
- Bethel: Eaton Corp.
- Bloomfield: Kamatics Corp.
- Branford: Oxley Inc.
- Bristol: Colonial Spring Company
- Danbury: Danbury Mission Technologies LLC
- Danbury: Linde Inc.
- Danbury: Vanguard Products Corp.
- East Hartford: Pratt & Whitney
- Enfield: Blue Thunder Technologies LLC
- Enfield: PTR
- Farmington: Otis Elevator Co.
- Groton: Applied Physical Sciences Corp.
- Manchester: Donwell Company Inc.
- Manchester: Spartan Aerospace LLC
- Middletown: Aerospace Techniques Inc.
- Middletown: Pegasus Manufacturing Inc.
- Milford: Air-Lock Inc.
- Newington: Advanced Torque Products LLC
- Norwalk: Omega Engineering Inc.
- Old Saybrook: Privateer Ltd.
- Oxford: Kimtron Inc.
- Plainfield: BST Systems Inc.
- Rocky Hill: Henkel Corp.
- Seymour: J.V. Precision Machine Co.
- Shelton: Butler America Aerospace LLC
- Simsbury: Ensign-Bickford Aerospace
- South Windsor: Aerospace Testing Laboratory Inc.
- South Windsor: Bodycote Thermal Processing
- Stafford: TTM Technologies Inc.
- Stamford: Gartner Inc.
- Stamford: Omega Engineering Inc.
- Stratford: Ashcroft Inc.
- Torrington: RBC Aircraft Bearings Inc.
- Wallingford: Dexmet Corp.
- Wallingford: Times Microwave Systems Inc.
- Waterbury: Pharmacal Research Laboratories Inc.
- Westbrook: The Lee Company
- Windsor Locks: Collins Aerospace
- Windsor Locks: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation
- Windsor: Fischer Technology Inc.
- Windsor: Infinity Fuel Cell
- Windsor: TLD America Corp.
“Connecticut is home to the best trained, best skilled workforce in the world, so it is no surprise that NASA has hired so many manufacturers from our state to supply the products that are supporting this groundbreaking space exploration mission,” Lamont said. “Our administration is committed to supporting the growth of these manufacturing companies through the operation of high-quality workforce development programs that help them fill the jobs necessary for these high-tech fields. Connecticut is the birthplace of the industrial revolution and we continue to lead the world in many industries.”
The mission is almost over, as the spacecraft is expected to come back to Earth on Sunday, where it will splash down in the Pacific Ocean. After a series of launch delays, Artemis I was launched on Nov. 16.
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