NASA in Colorado in 2026: no center, but a deep aerospace ecosystem
Colorado does not have a NASA field center. No Goddard, no JPL, no Johnson Space Center. But Colorado receives more NASA contract dollars per capita than almost any other state, and the Denver-Boulder corridor is one of the densest concentrations of space industry talent in the country. If you want to do NASA-related work in Colorado, you will work for contractors and partners — and there are a lot of them.
Here is how NASA's presence in Colorado actually works, who the major employers are, what they pay, and why the state punches so far above its weight in space.
Why Colorado matters to NASA (without a center)
Colorado's space industry is contractor-driven rather than center-driven. NASA awards billions in contracts to companies headquartered or operating in Colorado, and those companies employ thousands of engineers and scientists working directly on NASA programs:
Lockheed Martin Space — Headquartered in Waterton Canyon (Littleton), south of Denver. Lockheed Martin Space is the single largest space employer in Colorado with over 12,000 employees. Major NASA programs include the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (the capsule that will carry astronauts back to the Moon under Artemis), the OSIRIS-REx sample return mission, the InSight Mars lander, and the Lucy Trojan asteroid mission. Waterton is where Orion capsules are designed, integrated, and tested.
Ball Aerospace — Based in Boulder with approximately 5,500 employees. Ball Aerospace builds instruments and spacecraft for NASA science missions. Their resume includes the optics for the James Webb Space Telescope, the Kepler space telescope, the CloudSat and CALIPSO Earth science satellites, and instruments for multiple NASA planetary missions. Ball is NASA's go-to contractor for space-based optical systems and Earth observation instruments.
LASP (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics) — Located at the University of Colorado Boulder. LASP is a university research lab that operates like a NASA center: it builds instruments, operates spacecraft, and manages missions. LASP has built instruments that have flown on over 100 spacecraft and currently operates multiple NASA-funded missions including SORCE, TSIS, and instruments on MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN). LASP employs approximately 700 people and is the largest university-based space research institute in the world.
United Launch Alliance (ULA) — Headquartered in Centennial (south Denver metro). ULA launches NASA missions on Atlas V and Vulcan Centaur rockets. While ULA is a launch provider rather than a NASA contractor in the traditional sense, their Centennial engineering campus designs the rockets that carry NASA science missions and national security payloads to orbit.
The Artemis program's Orion spacecraft is arguably the most important piece of NASA hardware being built in Colorado. Lockheed Martin's Waterton facility handles Orion design, integration, and testing. When Artemis II carries astronauts around the Moon and Artemis III lands them on the surface, the capsule keeping them alive was assembled south of Denver. This single program employs hundreds of engineers in the state.
Major NASA-related employers in Colorado
| Company | Location | NASA Connection | Approx. Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lockheed Martin Space | Waterton/Littleton | Orion, OSIRIS-REx, Lucy, InSight | 12,000+ |
| Ball Aerospace | Boulder | JWST optics, Kepler, Earth science instruments | 5,500 |
| LASP (CU Boulder) | Boulder | Mission operations, instrument building | 700 |
| United Launch Alliance | Centennial | Launch services (Atlas V, Vulcan) | 3,000 |
| Northrop Grumman | Colorado Springs | Space Force programs, some NASA crossover | 1,500+ |
| Sierra Space | Louisville | Dream Chaser (NASA CRS-2 cargo) | 700+ |
| Maxar Technologies | Westminster | Satellite imagery, NASA robotic arms | 1,800 |
| Southwest Research Institute | Boulder | Planetary science instruments | 200+ |
The total NASA-related workforce in Colorado is estimated at 25,000-30,000 people when you include all tiers of subcontractors and suppliers. This is comparable in scale to the workforce around major NASA centers like Goddard (Greenbelt, MD) or Marshall (Huntsville, AL).
Salary ranges for NASA-related work in Colorado
Colorado aerospace salaries reflect the Denver-Boulder cost of living — lower than California or DC, but higher than Huntsville or the Space Coast:
| Role | Colorado Range | Comparable NASA Center Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Aerospace Engineer (mid-career) | $110K–$155K | GS-12/13 + locality ($98K–$130K) |
| Systems Engineer (senior) | $140K–$195K | GS-14/15 + locality ($120K–$163K) |
| Software Engineer | $120K–$175K | GS-12/13 ($98K–$130K) |
| Optical/Instrument Engineer (Ball) | $105K–$160K | GS-12/13 |
| Research Scientist (LASP) | $75K–$120K | GS-11/13 |
| Program Manager | $145K–$210K | GS-14/15 |
| Technician/Test Engineer | $65K–$95K | GS-9/11 |
Colorado contractor positions consistently pay 15-25% more than equivalent NASA civil servant GS positions. The trade-off is the same as everywhere: contractors earn higher base pay but lack federal pension (FERS), guaranteed job security, and retiree health benefits.
LASP offers a unique career path — university employment working on real NASA missions. Salaries are lower than industry (researchers typically earn $75K–$120K), but LASP positions come with CU Boulder benefits including tuition discounts, state pension participation, and access to the university research environment. For early-career scientists, LASP is one of the best places to build a NASA-relevant publication record while working on flight hardware.
The Boulder-Denver space corridor
Colorado's space industry is distributed along the I-25 and US-36 corridors from Boulder south to Colorado Springs:
Boulder: Ball Aerospace, LASP, SwRI, multiple small space startups. Boulder has the densest concentration of space scientists per capita in the state, driven by CU Boulder's top-ranked aerospace engineering program and LASP's gravitational pull on researchers.
Denver metro (Centennial/Littleton/Westminster): Lockheed Martin Space (Waterton), ULA (Centennial), Maxar (Westminster). This is where the large-scale hardware integration and program management happens. Lockheed Martin Space alone occupies multiple campuses south of Denver.
Louisville/Broomfield: Sierra Space (Dream Chaser), plus a growing cluster of NewSpace startups. Louisville sits between Boulder and Denver, attracting companies that want proximity to both the research and engineering talent pools.
Colorado Springs (70 miles south): Space Force, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, L3Harris. Colorado Springs is military space, not civil space, but there is crossover — especially in satellite operations and space domain awareness.
CU Boulder: the talent pipeline
The University of Colorado Boulder's Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences Department is consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally. More relevant than the ranking is CU Boulder's unique relationship with the space industry:
- LASP integration: Students can work on real spaceflight hardware as undergraduates. LASP routinely employs 100+ students in instrument development, mission operations, and data analysis.
- CubeSat program: CU Boulder has launched multiple student-built CubeSats, giving students hands-on spacecraft experience that few universities can match.
- Industry pipeline: Lockheed Martin, Ball Aerospace, and Northrop Grumman recruit heavily from CU Boulder. The proximity — Ball Aerospace is literally adjacent to campus — means internship-to-hire pipelines are well established.
- Research funding: CU Boulder receives over $70 million annually in NASA-funded research, placing it in the top tier of university recipients.
Colorado vs. other NASA hubs
How does Colorado compare to states with actual NASA centers?
| Factor | Colorado | Houston (JSC) | Huntsville (MSFC) | LA (JPL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NASA center | None | Johnson Space Center | Marshall SFC | Jet Propulsion Lab |
| Contractor jobs | 25,000+ | 20,000+ | 15,000+ | 10,000+ |
| Major employers | LM Space, Ball, LASP, ULA | Boeing, Jacobs, KBR, Axiom | Jacobs, Boeing, Dynetics | Caltech/JPL, Northrop, Raytheon |
| Median home price | $560K (Denver) | $330K | $320K | $900K+ |
| State income tax | 4.4% | 0% | 0% | 9.3%+ |
| Quality of life | Mountains, 300 days sun | Hot, humid | Affordable, growing | Beaches, expensive |
Colorado's disadvantage is the absence of a NASA center — there are no GS civil servant jobs here, which means no FERS pension path and no direct NASA career ladder. The advantage is employer diversity: if one program gets cancelled or a contract changes hands, you can move to another company in the same metro area without relocating.
How to get NASA-related work in Colorado
The path to NASA-adjacent work in Colorado typically follows one of these routes:
Direct hire at major contractors — Lockheed Martin Space, Ball Aerospace, and ULA post positions on their career sites and on job boards. These companies are the primary employers for NASA program work in the state.
LASP and CU Boulder — For research scientists, LASP positions are posted through the CU Boulder job system. Postdoctoral and research associate positions are the most common entry points.
Sierra Space — Dream Chaser work is NASA CRS-2 funded, meaning Sierra Space engineers in Louisville are working directly on a NASA cargo delivery program.
Subcontractors and small companies — Dozens of smaller Colorado companies (AGI, York Space Systems, Redwire) do NASA-funded work. These firms often have fewer applicants per position than the large primes.
Browse Lockheed Martin jobs, Ball Aerospace jobs, and Sierra Space jobs on Zero G Talent. For NASA civil servant positions, see our NASA jobs and salary guide. For nearby military space work, see Northrop Grumman Colorado Springs. Browse all Colorado space jobs.
