BY SENATOR(S) Todd and Lambert, Crowder, Heath, Aguilar, Balmer, Baumgardner, Carroll, Donovan, Garcia, Grantham, Guzman, Hill, Hodge, Holbert, Jahn, Johnston, Jones, Kefalas, Kerr, Lundberg, Marble, Martinez Humenik, Merrifield, Neville T., Newell, Roberts, Scheffel, Scott, Sonnenberg, Steadman, Ulibarri, Woods, Cadman; also REPRESENTATIVE(S) Rosenthal and Nordberg, Carver, Joshi, Keyser, Ryden, Van Winkle, Arndt, Becker J., Becker K., Brown, Buck, Buckner, Conti, Coram, Court, Danielson, DelGrosso, Dore, Duran, Esgar, Everett, Fields, Foote, Garnett, Ginal, Hamner, Humphrey, Kagan, Klingenschmitt, Kraft-Tharp, Landgraf, Lawrence, Lebsock, Lee, Lontine, Lundeen, McCann, Melton, Mitsch Bush, Moreno, Navarro, Neville P., Pabon, Pettersen, Primavera, Priola, Rankin, Ransom, Roupe, Saine, Salazar, Sias, Singer, Tate, Thurlow, Tyler, Vigil, Willett, Williams, Wilson, Windholz, Winter, Young, Hullinghorst.

CONCERNING THE DESIGNATION OF MARCH 23, 2015, AS “COLORADO AEROSPACE DAY” .
WHEREAS, Our nation and the world have significantly benefited from technological and scientific advances resulting from space exploration and aerospace activities; and
WHEREAS, Colorado is the number one aerospace state in the country in terms of per-capita employment and the third largest aerospace economy in the United States in terms of total numbers — ranking only behind California and Florida; and
WHEREAS, 163,000 Coloradans are employed in space-related jobs, generating approximately $3.2 billion in annual payroll; and
WHEREAS, Colorado is home to the nation’s top aerospace companies, including Ball Aerospace, Boeing, Exelis, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and United Launch Alliance, with close to 500 other space-related companies providing aerospace products and services, including spacecraft, launch vehicles, satellites, components, software, sensors, and navigation operations; and
WHEREAS, Many Colorado companies have made significant contributions to NASA’s Orion Spacecraft, such as Littleton-based Lockheed Martin’s role in the spacecraft’s design and engineering as well as in its components and heat shield creation, Broomfield-based Ball Aerospace’s role in its flight camera development, and Centennial-based United Launch Alliance’s launch of the Delta IV Heavy Rocket for its historic unmanned Exploration Flight Test 1, known as EFT-1, on December 5, 2014; and
WHEREAS, EFT-1 was the first flight of a human-rated spacecraft in over 40 years and took Orion to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth’s surface, more than 15 times farther than the International Space Station; reentered the atmosphere at speeds of over 20,000 miles per hour; reached temperatures of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit; and was viewed at Cape Canaveral by a group of more than 400 elected officials, business leaders, citizens from Colorado, and tens of thousands more from across the nation and around the world; and
WHEREAS, Colorado is a strategic location for national space activity, with four key military commands — the United States Air Force Space Command, the United States Army’s 1st Space Brigade, the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), and the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) — and three space-related United States Air Force bases — Buckley, Peterson, and Schriever; and
WHEREAS, Two organizations are instrumental to Colorado’s prominence in aerospace — the Colorado Space Coalition (CSC), a group of industry stakeholders working to further grow Colorado as a center of excellence for aerospace that includes members from space companies, military leaders, academic organizations, research centers, and economic development groups that promote Colorado’s significant space assets and advance legislation vital to industry growth and success — and the Colorado Space Business Roundtable (CSBR), which brings together aerospace stakeholders from industry, government, and academia for roundtable discussions and business development and encourages grassroots citizen participation in aerospace issues through the Colorado Chapter of Citizens for Space Exploration; and
WHEREAS, The CSBR and CSC have conducted business development road trips around the state of Colorado over the past few years in partnership with aerospace organizations, companies, academia, the Colorado Competitive Council, Action 22, CLUB 20, and Progressive 15 in order to find suppliers and subcontractors for aerospace projects and to promote aerospace in rural Colorado and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) in Colorado schools, and, during these road trips, have discovered remarkable aerospace innovation, such as the Durango Aerospace Design Team who placed first in NASA’s National Space Settlement Design Competition, securing themselves an invitation to the World Design Finals where they took first place in the world and won their sixth world championship title; and
WHEREAS, Colorado’s universities, including the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder), University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, University of Denver, and Colorado Mesa University, are among the world’s best for aerospace-related degrees and offer aerospace companies one of the country’s most-educated workforces; and
WHEREAS, CU-Boulder is producing Colorado’s aerospace leaders, with graduates serving as senior executives, engineers, project managers, and program managers in aerospace-related industries throughout the state, the nation, and the world; and
 
WHEREAS, CU-Boulder is also the number one NASA-funded public university in the United States, with over a dozen aerospace-related academic units and a variety of related programs on campus that support the aerospace industry, the business of aerospace, space science and research, the application of aerospace technology, and research to solving earth-bound challenges; has a top-ten graduate program in aerospace engineering; is home to the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, which is the only research institute in the world to send missions to all eight planets and Pluto; and is the originator of the MAVEN Mars mission; and
WHEREAS, CU-Boulder counts among its legacy 18 astronauts and conducts millions of dollars in world-class, aerospace-related research annually, resulting in new scientific discoveries and technologies; and
WHEREAS, Metropolitan State University of Denver is working to fill a shortage of more than 500,000 unfilled advanced manufacturing jobs across the country in the area of aviation and aerospace by partnering with industry and government to develop its Aerospace and Engineering Sciences program that will integrate the study of aviation and aerospace science; industrial design; civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering technology; computer science and computer information systems; and business management, and the programs will be housed in a new state-of-the-art Aerospace and Engineering Sciences building, providing students with the technology and labs necessary to give them a highly experiential, relevant education; and
WHEREAS, The Fort Lewis College Physics and Engineering program, with its cutting-edge research and curriculum supported by multiple university and industry partners, has been growing at 35% per year and will be housed in a new and state-of-the-art Geosciences, Physics, and Engineering building beginning in fall 2016; and
WHEREAS, This academic program enables Fort Lewis College to contribute the scientists and engineers with aerospace-related technical skills, particularly in the areas of robotics and electromechanical systems, necessary to power economic development for aerospace and other industries throughout the region and state; and
WHEREAS, The O’Neil Group Company plans to create an innovation district in downtown Colorado Springs that will create an environment where private-sector companies will collaborate with public-sector entities to spur workforce development, education, and startups to create long-lasting jobs in the community; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Seventieth General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:
(1) That we strongly urge and request the Executive and Legislative Branches of the United States government to take action to preserve and enhance United States leadership in space, to spur innovation, and to ensure our continued national and economic security by preserving and increasing funding for space exploration and activities, including regaining the ability of the United States to deliver persons and cargo to low-Earth orbit by 2018 and committing to send persons to destinations such as the Moon, Lagrange points, asteroids, and Mars within this decade or as soon as technologically possible;
(2) That we recognize and appreciate Colorado’s space and aerospace companies and organizations;
(3) That we recognize and appreciate the contributions of Colorado’s universities, colleges, and national research laboratories to the space and aerospace industries;
(4) That we express our most sincere and deepest appreciation to the men and women working in and supporting military and civilian aerospace companies and organizations in Colorado; and
(5) That we hereby declare March 23, 2015, to be “Colorado Aerospace Day”.
Be It Further Resolved, That a copy of this Joint Resolution be sent to President Barack Obama; Speaker John Boehner; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid; Senator Cory Gardner; Senator Michael Bennet; Congresswoman Diana DeGette; Congressman Jared Polis; Congressman Scott Tipton; Congressman Ken Buck; Congressman Doug Lamborn; Congressman Mike Coffman; Congressman Ed Perlmutter; Charles F. Bolden, Jr., NASA Administrator; Dava Newman, NASA Deputy Administrator; Mr. Michael P. Huerta, Federal Aviation Administration Administrator; Dr. George C. Nield, Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration; Governor John Hickenlooper; Lieutenant Governor Joe Garcia; Major General H. Michael Edwards, the Adjutant General, Colorado National Guard; General John Hyten, Air Force Space Commander; Colonel Dan Wright, USAF, Commander Aerospace Data Facility-Colorado; Betty Sapp, Director, National Reconnaissance Office; Charles Huettner, Executive Director, Aerospace States Association; Elliott Pulham, Chief Executive Officer, Space Foundation; Major General (Retired) Andy Love, Co-Chair, Colorado Space Coalition; Tom Marsh, Co-Chair, Colorado Space Coalition; Edgar Johansson, President and CEO, Colorado Space Business Roundtable; Frank Backes, Chair, Colorado Space Business Roundtable; and Stacey DeFore, Chair, Colorado Citizens for Space Exploration.
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Bill L. Cadman – PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
Dickey Lee Hullinghorst – SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Cindi L. Markwell – SECRETARY OF THE SENATE
Marilyn Eddins –  CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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For more information on Colorado Aerospace Day 2015, including a video of the day’s events, click the below links:
Colorado Aerospace Day 2015 at the Capitol Video
Colorado Aerospace 2015-2016 Brochure