It's taken billions of years to create the real thing but only a few years to replicate it. Students at Jeffco's Windy Peak and Mount Evans Outdoor Education Laboratory Schools (OELS) will now be able to take a walking tour of our solar system with the help of rocket scientists and engineers from Lockheed Martin. At more than a half mile-long, the two outdoor education walking tours have been designed to help students visualize and understand the scale and planetary relationships of our solar system. Lockheed Martin and Jeffco Public Schools today dedicated the Lockheed Martin Solar System Walking Tour.

Lockheed Martin engineers have spent hundreds of hours designing, building, and installing the planet walk kiosks at both the Mt. Evans and Windy Peak OELS school sites in Jefferson County Colo. The display kiosks provide information on the planets and solar system bodies, and were engineered to withstand the elements as both schools are located in high altitude areas with year-round use.

"Lockheed Martin is committed to science, technology, engineering, and math education and is excited to dedicate and participate in this unique education program with Jeffco Public Schools and their Outdoor Education Laboratory Schools," said Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager of Sensing and Exploration Systems at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. "Our goal throughout this process has been to develop a project and partnership that will serve to launch imagination and interest in space science among our community's children for generations."

Approximately 6,000 sixth-grade Jeffco students visit the OELS facilities annually participating in five-day, four-night residential school programming. The mission of the Jeffco OELS schools is to enhance and enrich student learning as an integral part of six grade curricula providing opportunities for hands-on, authentic learning in an outdoor setting.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 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:
  Gary Napier, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company; (303) 971-4012;
   gary.p.napier@lmco.com
  Lynn Setzer, Jeffco Public Schools; 303-982-6810;
   lsetzer@jeffco.k12.co.us

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin