A group of Colorado lawmakers wants to ensure that the state's aerospace industry lives long and prospers.

The Colorado Aerospace and Defense Caucus advocates for the massive impact that the space and defense industries have on the state's economy. But the caucus started out, shall we say, going where no caucus has gone before.

"Last legislative session, some interns and I were watching ' Star Trek' during lunches and breaks, and we thought 'Why don't we start a Star Trek Caucus?' " said Rep. Paul Rosenthal, D-Denver. "Let's have some fun while we do some serious work."

The Star Trek Caucus shared an equal appreciation for watching the crew of the USS Enterprise explore the universe and for the state's role in real space exploration missions such as NASA's MAVEN and Orion.

To that end, it invited experts from various areas of Colorado's aerospace economy to speak at its meetings before members watched the show. Presenters included former state Rep. Joe Rice, now the director of government relations at Littleton-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

"Unfortunately, not a lot of legislators took it seriously, so we decided to make it more serious," Rosenthal said.

Hence, the Colorado Aerospace and Defense Caucus was born.

The group now a bipartisan team helmed by Rosenthal; Rep. Dan Nordberg, R-Colorado Springs; Sen. Larry Crowder, R-Alamosa; and Sen. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora no longer watches "Star Trek" together. It does, however, work closely to promote Colorado's aerospace and defense industries in the statehouse.

Rosenthal, who also teaches at Ridge View Academy, a youth-corrections facility in Watkins, feels strongly about getting the next generation of space advocates on board to the point of taking his students to Lockheed Martin's Waterton Canyon campus to see spacecraft up close.

"I definitely have a long history of being interested in aerospace ... and people tend to focus on things that people promote," he said. "This is one of my passion projects promoting the aerospace and defense industries and getting kids in there."

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Group of lawmakers set sights on state's aerospace industry