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LONGMONT — NASA visited Colorado on Monday to check in with two local companies who are helping build technology for the Orion spacecraft.

The companies (EnerSys in Longmont and SEAKR in Centennial) are designing, manufacturing and testing flight hardware for Orion and NASA’s new Space Launch System (which will be the most powerful rocket in the world).

Their mission: to support human missions into deep space.

“All of it is furthering our understanding of our solar system and answering some fundamental questions of where did our planet come from, where did life originate,” said Nicole Mann, a NASA Astronaut who will likely be aboard Orion’s manned mission.

Initially, Orion will launch an unmanned mission and fly thousands of miles beyond the Moon for about 3 weeks while studying cislunar space around the Moon.

After that mission is complete, astronauts will climb aboard Orion for a similar, yet manned, mission.

EnerSys in Longmont is creating Orion’s battery. EnerSys is the world’s leading industrial battery manufacturer.

“One thing interesting about our products – we’ve had 1.6 billion hours in Space without a failure,” said Mark Matthews, Vice President of EnerSys.

NASA also met with its partners at Lockheed Martin who were on hand for Monday’s visit. To learn more about NASA’s deep space mission, click here.