Space Systems/Loral this year has turned 50. Founded back in 1957, SS/Loral was a pioneer in communications satellites and today remains as a leader in the industry of high-powered commercial spacecraft.

The company was founded as the Western Development Laboratories division of Philco Corporation in 1957 and started construction of the first building on its current campus in Palo Alto, California that same year. It became Philco-Ford in 1966, having been purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1961, and later was renamed Aeronutronic Ford and finally Ford Aerospace. The latter's space division took the name Space Systems/Loral when it was acquired in 1990 by Loral Space & Communications and a consortium of international partners. In 1997, Loral became the sole owner of SS/L, and today it remains SS/L's parent company.

Space Systems/Loral (at that time Philco) launched its first communications satellite, Courier 1B, in 1960. Courier was the world's first active repeater satellite, and to highlight this new technology, it was used to transmit a message from President Eisenhower to the United Nations.

Today, SS/L now has about 2,200 employees and a campus of more than 25 buildings in Palo Alto, California. Clients include both Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, as well as both DISH Network and DirecTV (to name a few).

[Space Systems/Loral History]