PROMONTORY, Utah — From escaping earth's orbit to going to the moon and beyond, rockets have powered mankind's space exploration — and a lot of these endeavors to the stars are thanks to a little-known facility in Utah.
Off State Route 83 in Box Elder County, built high up in the hillside, is a group of people who make space travel a reality.
“It's kind of funny to put ranching and rockets together, but literally we are neighbors side-by-side collectively here,” said Matt Mecham, who works on the SLS Integration Engineering Team at Northrop Grumman's Rocket Test Facility.
Mecham showed FOX 13 News around the facility ahead of the upcoming Artemis I launch.
“We design and build the motor segments — that's the most significant thing that people remember," he said. "But we also have design responsibility for all of the other pieces and parts that all come together to make a booster... A lot of defense programs and obviously the space shuttle program.”
Images of NASA's six space shuttles and their missions have been etched into the history books and into our memories — which, without the solid rocket boosters made here in Utah, would not have been possible.
The space shuttle fleet launched for the final time in 2011. But now, a decade later, it's time for something new: the Artemis.
“The Artemis program, right — we're returning to the moon,” Mecham said. “So Artemis I is the first flight. It's a test flight; we'll be able to learn a lot. It will be able to take that information and, you know, move the program forward.”
Mecham has been involved from the start.
"For me, personally, it's pretty important. I've spent a lot of time, a lot of years," he said. "I worked the program from the inception as a design engineer, so I have a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I like to say my fingerprints are all over this rocket.”
His job is to make sure all of the rocket's technology is integrated together properly, and it has its root in a tried and true place.
“This booster is, you know, derived from the space shuttle boosters," Mecham said. "So it's not necessarily new technology, but it's a new design.”
That new design weighs in at 1.4 million pounds, and once ignited, the rockets are propelled forward at 3.6 million pounds of thrust.
After all the tests, math, science and sleepless nights, there was one thing that proved tricky: painting the NASA logo on the boosters.
"That was very interesting for us," Mecham said. "Kind of a big problem to solve because trying to paint it on a round surface that's not smooth and has all these bumps and lines and other surfaces, [but] the team really pulled that off.”
Mecham is now on his way to Florida to watch his and the rest of the team's hard work in action, lifting humanity back to the stars.
“Anytime a rocket launches is a lot of fun. It's a feeling of awe — you feel the power as the energetics go off and the propulsion, and there's the light and the smoke, and it's great," he said. “Being part of it, and knowing ... it's your work, you've done your best, there's always that little bit of, you know, a lot of butterflies, a lot of nervousness.”
Artemis I is now ready on launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The launch window starts this week and runs through Nov. 27. Weather permitting, it is scheduled to launch Wednesday.
