Petaluma firm part of historic NASA effort to place first woman on moon in 2024

Move over Elon, Jeff and Richard. The space race is on, ignited by female power making a giant step for humankind.

With the help from at least one North Bay company that’s run by a woman, NASA astronauts Kate Rubins of Napa and Nicole Mann of Petaluma may be selected for an historic journey to return to the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis III moon mission program.

The last time Americans landed on the moon under the Apollo program in 1972, Elton John’s hit song “Rocket Man” was released, former U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered the development of the space shuttle program and U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm, D-NY, announced a run for president — the first black woman.

NASA received a 6% boost in the 2021–2022 budget from the Biden Administration and plans to spend $350 million of that $24.8 billion in part to send the first woman with a man to the Earth’s closest orb.

As early as November, NASA plans to test out its Orion spacecraft for an Artemis I launch without crew members. The two- to three-week moon mission involves an orbit around the orb. If all goes well, the space agency plans to go full throttle to the moon-landing mission.

“Is 2024 an overreach? No. Is it a challenge? Yes. But those are my marching orders,” NASA Orion Engineer Stu McClung told the Business Journal. The program, planning and control chief of staff is convinced the “business model” NASA is working off of may even be a source of national pride for a country starving for unity.

“This is one of those moments of solidifying stuff and to rally around. I’ll try not to cry,” he said.

GC Micro Corporation CEO Belinda Guadarrama couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of lending her company assistance to the effort.

“Everything NASA is doing is pretty amazing. And the level of accomplishment my staff has is (amazing). When (NASA astronauts) launch, (my employees) can look at that and say, ‘I was a part of that,’” Guadarrama told the Business Journal.

The 30-employee Petaluma tech company founded in 1986 procures everything from desktop computers and workstations to IT systems and augmented reality devices for NASA’s Artemis III program. The firm, with at $80 million in revenue a year, is operating on a five-year contract with NASA that’s similar to being placed on a retainer until 2025 with the option to continue. Each contract has a $20 billion contract limit.

On a typical day, GC Micro Corp staffers comb through drawings with NASA engineers to come up with customized hardware solutions and help solve a multitude of problems and issues the U.S. space agency faces every day.

“We know NASA. We know how it operates,” she said.

Plans for the return to the moon after 50 years were started in the Trump administration. The new administration is doubling down on the task with additional funds, and NASA is relying on its public-private partnerships more than ever to provide services to meet lofty goals in space.

Indeed, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk have both developed space tourism companies designed to send people into space.

“How exciting to have the launches back in the U.S.,” the GC Micro Corp chief said. “We’re back.”

Napa astronaut crushing the race to space

Guadarrama shares her enthusiasm with one of the astronauts from the North Bay hoping to go.

“Absolutely I want to be selected. I’ve wanted to be an astronaut since I was a little kid,” Rubins told the Business Journal. “Being on the Artemis team and getting a chance to work on a lunar program — that’s the once in a lifetime opportunity for me.”

Rubins, whose father still lives in Napa, said she “loved” growing up in the Napa Valley.

Rubins graduated in 1996 from Vintage High School — with a team name “the Crushers” — before coming on board NASA 13 years later.

On one of two missions on the International Space Station, she became the first person to perform DNA sequencing in space on equipment about half the size of a cellular phone. The molecular biologist has also taken part in two spacewalks totaling over 12 hours.

“I think it’s an exciting time for the space program. It’s been a long time since we’ve gone to the moon, and we’re pushing to go back in a different way,” she said, referring to added aims that go beyond placing a flag and collecting rocks. “Our goal and focus are to explore.”

One of the future aspects of the Artemis program involves becoming a launching pad for NASA’s Gateway program, which years from now may sustain crews living over extended periods of time at the moon. All stays would be short lived though. Most missions in the space station last for six months to a year.

“Our long-term goal is to have a human settlement from the moon, then onto Mars,” Rubins said.

Rubins, who has seen many changes and accomplishments made with NASA, commends the companies that have helped the space agency along the way.

“NASA has always worked with a variety of contractors. They’ve become more and more important for the Artemis program,” she said.

“Having these commercial entities is a great way to stimulate interest and helps the economy,” she said, pointing out how inventions have been found in private enterprise that has assisted the space program. “It’s mutually beneficial.”

Astronaut from Petaluma

Mann, who is also an Artemis team member, joined the astronaut corps in 2013 with a focus in mechanical engineering. She served as a U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and as an F/A-18 fighter pilot.

The North Bay native is also enthusiastic about the prospect of going to the moon.

“Artemis and our mission to the moon is no longer some far featured dream or some science fiction idea. This is reality. We are going. What we are going to learn on the moon goes beyond space exploration,” she said in a statement. “It benefits humans on Earth. It gives enthusiasm to our younger generation — to go after their dreams and to help be a part of this evolution of our human race.”

If you build it

To those who work at the spacecraft’s builder, these partnerships between private enterprise and NASA have remained the strength of the space program.

“Industry has always helped,” Lockheed Martin spokesman Gary Napier said. “Companies like GC Micro are so important to this mission and out into deep space. We couldn’t do it without them.”

Because all stakeholders would agree, no one wants to hear: “Houston, we have a problem.”

Another North Bay company with eyes to the sky

Autodesk is also assisting NASA in a separate program in which the software provider is testing the concept of using a large format 3D printer to create habitats.

In this project, the San Rafael-based tech company’s design software will build habitats emulating the moon or Mars because transporting these materials is pricy and risky, company officials contend.