Just minutes after NASA delayed the launch of the Artemis I moon mission early Monday morning, employees at Colorado-based Lockheed Martin Space were looking forward to the second attempt, which could be as early as Friday.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the Orion capsule, which will be flown without astronauts as the first step in returning people to the moon. Colorado-based Lockheed Martin employees engineered and built many of the components.

Several of the company’s engineers and other employees were at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla., to watch the enormous Space Launch System rocket take off. The rocket’s upper stage was developed and built by Centennial-based United Launch Alliance.

About 100 Lockheed employees were waiting for the live feed at the company’s Jefferson County campus. After the launch was scrubbed, Ron Nelthorpe, senior manager of program planning for Lockheed Martin on the mission, said backup plans are always in place in case issues arise.

“We have another launch window on Friday. I’m still excited. It’s going to happen,” Nelthorpe said. “I’m going to take the team out to lunch.”

As precious minutes ticked away Monday morning, NASA repeatedly stopped and started the fueling of the Space Launch System rocket because of a leak of highly explosive hydrogen, eventually succeeding in reducing the seepage to acceptable levels. The leak happened in the same place that saw seepage during a dress rehearsal in the spring.

The fueling already was running nearly an hour late because of thunderstorms off Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

Then, NASA ran into new trouble when it was unable to properly chill one of the rocket’s four main engines, officials said. Engineers continued working to pinpoint the source of the problem after the launch postponement was announced.

“This is a very complicated machine, a very complicated system, and all those things have to work, and you don’t want to light the candle until it’s ready to go,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

Before the countdown was halted, Nelthorpe talked about Artemis I being an important milestone.

“It’s been 50 years since we’ve been out this far out into space, out to the moon, so it’s very, very significant,” Nelthorpe said. “This is a steppingstone to build a permanent place on the moon and then from there to Mars. This is what this spacecraft is designed to do.”

NASA said Orion will fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown.

Many Colorado companies are contributing to the Artemis project, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation said in a statement. More than 184 Colorado companies are supporting the mission, including Denver-based Red Canyon and Sierra Space.

“The Artemis mission has been years in the making for Colorado companies,” said Morgan B. Alu, director of international business development and special projects for the economic development organization.

Alu said it is exciting to see Colorado’s 500-plus aerospace companies “paving the way for the future of space economy to the moon and further explorations.”

Colorado’s direct aerospace employment of 33,460 in 2020 was second only to California’s and was the highest per capita in the nation, according to Metro Denver.

The Artemis I mission is part of the preparation for landing the first woman and first person of color on the moon, planned for 2025. Orion won’t have a crew. The Associated Press reports it is carrying three test dummies. Sensors will measure vibration, acceleration and radiation that people will face.

While no people will be on board Orion, there will be living organisms. In an experiment led by researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder, 12 bags full of baker’s yeast will ride in a case, a shoe-box sized laboratory, tucked under one of the seats. Scientists will study the effects of radiation on several different strains of yeast cells, which share about 70% of their genes with humans.

“The last time humans sent anything biological on a return trip to the moon was during Apollo 17 in 1972,” said Tobias Niederwieser, a research associate at BioServe Space Technologies, a center in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at CU.

Lockheed Martin said Orion’s technology was designed to address the extremes of deep space and includes heat and radiation shields and advanced environmental control and life-support systems.

Orion will travel 280,000 miles from Earth and 40,000 thousand miles beyond the moon. A service module provided by the European Space Agency will supply the spacecraft’s main propulsion system and power, NASA said.

NASA said its new Space Launch System, the rocket used to launch Orion, is the most powerful rocket in the world. At 322 feet, the rocket is taller than the Statue of Liberty and weights 5.75 million pounds. The system will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust during launch and ascent, according to NASA.

Lockheed Martin has a contract with NASA to produce six Orion spacecraft. Artemis II will have a four-astronaut crew and could launch in 2024. The spacecraft will fly around the moon and perform several maneuvers, according to NASA.

The Artemis I mission comes 50 years after the last time people landed on the moon. The Apollo 17 crew made several field trips to explore the lunar geology. NASA wants to explore the moon’s south pole, where scientists have observed ice. The ice could provide water as well as oxygen and rocket fuel when the water’s atoms are broken down.

The Artemis mission was named for the goddess of the moon in Greek mythology. Artemis was Apollo’s twin sister.

Among those who traveled to Florida in hopes of seeing the first flight in the Artemis program blast off was Eric Fanning, former U.S. Army Secretary and president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association. Fanning was recently in Colorado to meet with industry representatives and elected officials about challenges related to the pandemic, such as supply-chain disruptions and inflation.

“But workforce seems to be the predominant issue for most of the companies,” Fanning said. “It’s a constant hunt for talent.”

Strategies include coordination between businesses and education to stir interest in science, technology and technical skills, Fanning said.

“There are a lot of exciting things taking place in space,” he said. “One of the great benefits of all this is that it captures the imagination of the next generation almost like nothing else we can do.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.