Lockheed Martin Ғарыш бөлімшесінің тарихы мен өнімдері

Operating division of Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Space is one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. It has its headquarters in Littleton, Colorado, with additional sites in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Sunnyvale, California; Santa Cruz, California; Huntsville, Alabama; and elsewhere in the United States and United Kingdom. The division currently employs about 20,000 people, and its most notable products are commercial and military satellites, space probes, missile defense systems, NASA's Orion spacecraft, and the Space Shuttle external tank.

RCA Astro Electronics Division, a division of RCA, was formed in the late 1950s and went on to become one of the leading American manufacturers of satellites and other space systems, including the world's first weather satellite, TIROS, launched in 1960. The spacecraft design and manufacturing facility was located in East Windsor, New Jersey. In 1985, two members of the Astro Electronics engineering staff, Bob Cenker and Gerard E. Magilton, were selected to train as NASA Payload Specialists for the Space Shuttle Columbia mission designated as STS 61 C. The primary goal of the flight was to deliver a communications satellite, RCA Americom Satcom KU 1, designed and built at the Astro Electronics facility, into orbit. Cenker was selected as a member of the flight crew, and Magilton was assigned as the back up. When Columbia launched on January 12, 1986, Bob Cenker became RCA Astro Electronic's first astronaut. Following the destruction of Space Shuttle Challenger with the next Shuttle mission, civilian Payload Specialists were excluded from flying Shuttle missions until 1990. By that time, RCA had been purchased by General Electric, and RCA Astro Electronics became part of GE. As a result, Cenker was the only RCA Astro Electronics employee, and only employee in the history of the facility under all of its subsequent names, to ever fly in space. The facility operated as GE Astro Space until it was sold to Martin Marietta in 1993.

Lockheed Martin Space comprises five Lines of Business (LOBs). Each of these is a P & L (profit and loss center) focused on a set of specific customers and related products. Each LOB is led by a vice president and general manager.