Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company today opened its doors to students, aged six to 18 years, for the company's annual Young Minds at Work Day. Nearly 4,000 students are participating today at company facilities across the country in Alabama, California, Colorado, Louisiana and Pennsylvania.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company annually hosts Young Minds at Work Day to motivate young people to pursue science and technology careers.

A Lockheed Martin employee, contractor or customer is sponsoring each student. Each student "shadows" his or her sponsor during part of the day and participates in hands-on activities and tours of the company.

  Some of today's activities include:
  --  Studying the constellations inside Star Lab, an inflatable mobile
      planetarium, in Denver, Colo.;
  --  Conducting wind tunnel tests of toy race cars in Sunnyvale, Calif.;
  --  Driving a remotely operated robotic rover through a simulated Martian
      landscape in Palo Alto, Calif.;
  --  Touring the NASA Space Shuttle External Tank production facility in
      New Orleans, La.;
  --  Looking inside computers to see how they work in Huntsville, Ala.;

  --  And, building and launching a rocket in Courtland, Ala.

"As they are formulating their goals for the future, the students who participate in this event get an inside view of our aerospace work environment and of the opportunities for achievement in technical and non-technical career fields," said Richard P. Kludt, vice president of human resources, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, a major operating unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation, designs, develops, tests, manufactures and operates a full spectrum of advanced-technology systems for national security, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include human space flight systems; a full range of remote sensing, navigation, meteorological and communications satellites and instruments; space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft; laser radar; fleet ballistic missiles; and missile defense systems.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.

                                  Media Contacts:

                Lynn Fisher, Sunnyvale, Huntsville and Courtland,
                        408-742-7606; lynn.m.fisher@lmco.com

                               Gary Napier, Denver,
                        303-971-4012; gary.p.napier@lmco.com

                           Harry Wadsworth, New Orleans,
                     504-257-0094; harry.wadsworth@maf.nasa.gov
                             Buddy Nelson, Palo Alto,
                         510-797-0349; buddy.nelson@lmco.com

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin