Lockheed Martin Reaches Half A Century In California, Colorado Space Plants

Two Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] space installations marked half a century of operations, the company stated.

The two facilities are in Denver, Colo., and Sunnyvale, Calif.

In 1956, ground was broken in Denver and Sunnyvale. for two sprawling installations that would play a vital role in space exploration, and in defense during the Cold War.

Space Systems contributed in development of such systems as the land-based Titan and Atlas missiles and the submarine-launched Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM).

The company also built CORONA, the first remote-sensing intelligence satellites that date back to the 1960s.

Lockheed designed and built the Hubble Space Telescope, the entire Landsat series of satellites, and a fleet of planetary explorers.

The company also scored the first radio communication from a satellite; the first three-axis stabilized communications spacecraft; the first weather pictures from space; the first soft landings on Mars; and the placement on-orbit of the first commercial remote-sensing satellite that can resolve objects on the ground as small as one meter in diameter.