Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Lockheed Martin employs 123,000 people worldwide. 

Lockheed Martin is one of the world's largest defense contractors; In 2009, 74% of Lockheed Martin's revenues came from military sales. It received 7.1% of the funds paid out by the Pentagon.

Lockheed Martin operates in four business segments. These comprise, Aeronautics (27%), Electronic Systems (27%), Information Systems & Global Solutions (27%), and Space Systems (19%).

Intelsat 28, formerly New Dawn, is a communications satellite produced and run by Intelsat. It is positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 33 degrees east and serving TV and broadband communications to Africa.

It is based around the STAR-2 satellite platform.

Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC, though commonly referred to as Orbital) is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems. Orbital formerly owned ORBIMAGE (now GeoEye) and the Magellan line of GPS receivers, though they are now divested (the latter toThales).

It has its headquarters in the Dulles area of unincorporated Loudoun County,Virginia, United States.

Orbital Sciences since inception has built 569 launch vehicles with 82 more to be delivered by 2015. 174 satellites have been built by the company since 1982 with 24 more to be delivered by 2015. Orbital has a 40% share of the interceptor market, 55% share of the small communications satellite market, and a 60% share of the small launch vehicles market. The company is expanding into the medium size launch vehicles and satellites market with the development of the Antares rocket and the acquisition of the General Dynamics Advanced Information System Satellite division.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA, Chinese: 国家航天局; pinyin: Guó Jiā Háng Tiān Jú, literally "National Astronautics Department") is the national space agency of the People's Republic of China responsible for the national space program.^[2] It is responsible for planning and development of space activities. CNSA and China Aerospace Corporation (CASC) assumed the authority over space development efforts previously held by the Ministry of Aerospace Industry.

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately 6.5 miles (10.5 km) northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC, one of ten major NASA field centers, is named in recognition of Dr. Robert H. Goddard (1882–1945), the pioneer of modern rocket propulsion in the United States.

GSFC is the largest combined organization of scientists and engineers in the United States dedicated to increasing knowledge of the Earth, the Solar System, and the Universe via observations from space. GSFC is a major U.S. laboratory for developing and operating unmanned scientific spacecraft. GSFC conducts scientific investigation, development and operation of space systems, and development of related technologies. Goddard scientists can develop and support a mission, and Goddard engineers and technicians can design and build the spacecraft for that mission. Goddard scientist John C. Mather shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on COBE.

GSFC also operates two spaceflight tracking and data acquisition networks (the Space Network and the Near Earth Network), develops and maintains advanced space and Earth science data information systems, and develops satellite systems for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

GSFC manages operations for many NASA and international missions including the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Explorer program, the Discovery Program, the Earth Observing System (EOS), INTEGRAL, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and Swift. Past missions managed by GSFC include the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, SMM, COBE, IUE, and ROSAT. Typically, unmanned earth observation missions and observatories in Earth orbit are managed by GSFC, while unmanned planetary missions are managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

The Guiana Space Centre (French: Centre Spatial Guyanais - CSG) is a French spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana.

Operational since 1968, it is particularly suitable as a location for a spaceport due to its proximity to the equator, and that launches are in a favourable direction over water. The European Space Agency (ESA), the French space agency CNES, and the commercial Arianespace company conduct launches from Kourou. This is the spaceport used to by ESA to send supplies to the International Space Station.

The Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) (English: National Centre for Space Studies) is the French space agency.

Established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961, its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and Research. It operates out of the Guiana Space Centre, but also has payloads launched from space centres operated by other countries. CNES formerly was responsible for the training of French astronauts, the last active CNES astronauts transferred to the European Space Agency in 2001. 

CNES concentrates on five areas:

• access to space
• civil applications of space
• sustainable development
• science and technology research
• security and defence

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) (German: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.) is the national centre for aerospace, energy and transportation research of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has multiple locations throughout Germany. Its headquarters are located in Cologne. It is engaged in a wide range of research and development projects in national and international partnerships.

In addition to conducting its own research projects, DLR also acts as the German space agency. As such, it is responsible for planning and implementing the German space programme on behalf of the German federal government. As project management agency, DLR also coordinates and answers for the technical and organisational implementation of projects funded by a number of German federal ministries.

The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's center for human spaceflight training, research and flight control. The center consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres (656 ha) in Houston, Texas. Johnson Space Center is home to the United States astronaut corps and is responsible for training astronauts from both the U.S. and its international partners. It is often popularly referred to by its central function during missions, Mission Control.

The center, originally known as the Manned Spacecraft Center, grew out of the Space Task Group formed soon after the creation of NASA to co-ordinate the US manned spaceflight program. A new facility was constructed on land donated by Rice University and opened in 1963. On February 19, 1973, the center was renamed in honor of the late U.S. president and Texas native, Lyndon B. Johnson. JSC is one of ten major NASA field centers.

The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is the NASA installation that has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program from three pads at the adjoining Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Its iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is the fourth-largest structure in the world by volume and was the largest when completed in 1965.