Space Symposium highlights Colorado as second-biggest ‘space economy’ in the US [Video]

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The total solar eclipse wasn’t the biggest space-related event to happen in Colorado this week.

The 39th Space Symposium is in full swing at The Broadmoor and Cheyenne Mountain Resort until April 11, with 12,000 people from 40 countries converging in Colorado Springs for everything “space” related.

The event, put on by the Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation, highlights how pivotal Colorado and the Pikes Peak region are to the aerospace and defense industry.

Heavy-hitting companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Ball Aerospace, Sierra Nevada Corporation and United Launch Alliance all call Colorado home or have a large presence in the state.

The sheer number of space-related companies and jobs in Colorado makes it the second-largest aerospace economy in the United States, according to the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT).

“Colorado is the space state,” Vice President of Strategic Communications and Outreach with the Space Foundation Rich Cooper …