HOUSTON, Dec. 7 -- Lockheed Martin will host a ceremony Dec. 12 at 9:00 a.m. CST to dedicate the opening of a new space Exploration Development Laboratory (EDL) in Houston, TX to support the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Project Orion and Constellation Program. Orion is America's human spaceflight vehicle of the future that will become operational by 2015 after the space shuttle is retired in 2010.

Representatives from NASA, Lockheed Martin, the State of Texas, Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership and others will participate in the ceremony.

The new 10,000 sq. ft. Exploration Development Laboratory is a state-of- the-art test facility funded by Lockheed Martin and its teammates United Space Alliance and Honeywell as part of an EDL network. It joins facilities in Denver, CO, Glendale, AZ and Arlington, VA. The EDL network is designed to reduce cost and schedule risk by providing an early opportunity to perform system-level avionics and software testing for Orion in a realistic environment in the development phase of the program.

Testing of critical systems will be done in the EDL, such as Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C); Automated Rendezvous and Docking (AR&D); crew interfaces and software development processes. It also allows the team to take advantage of the breadth of human space flight experience in Houston, including early involvement and collaboration with astronaut flight crew members.

  The Exploration Development Laboratory Dedication Event will be held:

  Date:      Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007
  Time:      9:00 a.m. CST
  Location:  Lockheed Martin Exploration Development Laboratory
             505 Forge River Road, Webster, TX
  To Attend: Media should contact Joan Underwood, Lockheed Martin
             Space Systems, office 303-971-7398, mobile 303-594-7073

      Media Contact:  Joan Underwood, Lockheed Martin Space Systems
                 Office 303-971-7398; Mobile 303-594-7073
                     email, joan.b.underwood@lmco.com
              For additional information, visit our website:
                      http://www.lockheedmartin.com/

PRNewswire -- Dec. 7

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin