The story
Ball Aerospace began building pointing controls for military rockets in 1956. The aerospace part of the Ball Corporation was then known as Ball Brothers Research Corporation, and later won a contract to build some of NASA's first spacecraft, the Orbiting Solar Observatory satellites. The company has been responsible for numerous technological and scientific projects and continues to provide aerospace technology to NASA and related industries.
Other products and services for the aerospace industry include lubricants, optical systems, star trackers and antennas. As a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ball Corporation, Ball Aerospace was cited in 2023 as the 54th largest defense contractor in the world. Both parent and subsidiary headquarters were co-located in Broomfield, Colorado.
In August 2023, Ball Corporation agreed to divest Ball Aerospace to BAE Systems Inc. for $5.6 billion in cash. On February 14, 2024 the companies announced that all regulatory approvals were in place to allow the deal to complete. The deal was closed on February 16, 2024. The new organization was named BAE Systems Space and Mission Systems (SMS). SMS headquarters remained in Broomfield, while Ball Corporation headquarters consolidated to Westminster, Colorado.
In August 2026, BAE Systems SMS renamed to Aerospace & Mission Systems (AMS).
From Wikipedia’s article on Ball Aerospace & Technologies, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4