The Aerospace Corporation is an American nonprofit corporation that operates a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in El Segundo, California. The corporation provides technical guidance and advice on all aspects of space missions to military, civil, and commercial customers. As the FFRDC for national-security space, Aerospace works closely with organizations such as the United States Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to provide "objective technical analyses and assessments for space programs that serve the national interest". Although the USSF and NRO are the primary customers, Aerospace also performs work for civil agencies such as NASA and NOAA as well as international organizations and governments in the national interest. History On July 1, 1954, the Western Development Division (WDD) of the United States Air Force was established, under the command of Brig Gen Bernard A. Schriever. WDD was responsible for the development of the intercontinental ballistic missile. The Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation (RW) was identified as the civilian organization responsible for systems engineering for the ICBM program. Their Space Technology Laboratories (STL) was responsible for all missile tasks. Despite early successes, there was criticism from both government and industry on the role RW played as a system engineer, in particular, that RW held a privileged position with the Air Force. In 1958 RW merged with Thompson Products to become TRW and the Space Technology Laboratories became an independent subsidiary of TRW, but concerns regarding conflicts of interest persisted. In September 1959, United States Congress issued House Report 1121 which recommended that STL be converted into a non-profit institution. Congress wanted the establishment of an organization, free from conflict of interest, to aid the Air Force in "applying the full resources of modern science and technology to the problem of achieving those continuing advances in ballistic missiles and military space systems." On June 3, 1960, Aerospace was established under the laws of the State of California as a nonprofit corporation. On June 25, 1960, at a press conference held at the U.S. Air Force Ballistic Missile Division headquarters in El Segundo, California, Lt. Gen. Bernard A. Schriever announced the "formation of a new nonprofit organization, The Aerospace Corporation, to serve the Air Force in the scientific and technical planning and management of missile-space programs." Among the earliest projects it supported were the Dyna-Soar orbital spaceplane, Project Mercury, and the man-rating of the Atlas (rocket) intercontinental ballistic missile. The Aerospace Corporation