May the 4th be with you: California reaches for the stars with space accomplishments that are out of this world

Generations of aerospace & defense leadership

California’s role in powering human spaceflight stretches back decades. The Saturn V rocket that carried Apollo astronauts to the moon was built almost entirely in California and the original Apollo spacecraft itself was manufactured across the state. The Space Shuttle fleet was assembled in Palmdale, the first U.S. space station, Skylab, was built in Huntington Beach, and the RS-25 engine – originally developed for the Shuttle and now powering the Space Launch System for Artemis II – has been designed and manufactured in the San Fernando Valley since the 1970s.

As of late 2024, California is the top state in the country for:

• NASA spending: NASA procurement spending at $5.8 billion, accounting for 25% of NASA’s total procurement nationwide and resulting in $18.6 billion in economic output for California.

• NASA-supported R&D: California’s share of NASA procurement in the R & D services sector is 67%, representing 19% of NASA-supported jobs in the state.

• NASA Employment Impact: Each NASA job in California supports an additional 35.7 jobs across the state, resulting in a total employment impact of 66,208 jobs.

Leading the fusion energy ecosystem

Beyond space exploration, California has led the way in opening the door to fusion energy — a clean energy source that mimics the sun’s energy. The fusion energy sector currently supports approximately 4,700 jobs across California, generating $1.4 billion in annual economic output.

The state is home to both of the nation’s premier fusion research centers: the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego, the United States’ largest magnetic-confinement (tokamak) user facility, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the world’s most energetic laser for inertial-confinement fusion, where researchers achieved the first laboratory fusion ignition in December 2022, marking a critical step in fusion viability. Both facilities support a vibrant startup environment.

The Golden State’s quantum advantage

Quantum computing has the potential to solve equations in mere minutes that would take existing computers thousands of years to complete — enabling immense potential to enhance medication discovery, improve artificial intelligence tools, combat climate change, and model complex scenarios. 

California is the only state that is home to both the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy quantum federal research centers — and is positioned as the strongest in this space. California is producing the nation’s top talent in quantum, is home to five of the world’s top 15 artificial intelligence programs (UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UCLA, Stanford, and Caltech) and leads in quantum computing research with centers at UC Berkeley, UCLA, University of Southern California, and Stanford, as well as the Google Quantum AI Campus affiliated with UC Santa Barbara, Microsoft’s Station Q lab with UC Santa Barbara, and the Amazon Web Services Center for Quantum Computing at Caltech.

To help capitalize on these long-standing strengths, Governor Newsom last November launched Quantum California – a new statewide initiative that brings together government, academia, and industry to advance quantum innovation, create jobs, and secure California’s future in this critical emerging technology. 

Quantum and fusion — both priority sectors under the California Jobs First Economic Blueprint — are key examples of California’s leadership, with the state leading the way in research and development, talent, and new discoveries.