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Two large defense and space primes, and the two owners of United Launch Alliance: comparing their space businesses across human spaceflight, satellites, NASA contracts and missile defense.
| Metric | Boeing Space | Lockheed Martin Space |
|---|---|---|
| Parent Company[1,3] | The Boeing Company (BA) | Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) |
| Space Business[1,3] | Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) segment | Space business segment |
| Segment Revenue (FY2025)[1,3] | BDS: $27.2B (defense and space combined) | Space: $13.0B (also includes Trident II D5 missiles and missile defense) |
| Employees (whole company)[1,3] | About 182,000 (Dec 31, 2025) | About 123,000 (Dec 31, 2025) |
| United Launch Alliance[2,3] | 50% owner with Lockheed Martin (still held at June 30, 2026) | 50% owner with Boeing |
| ULA in 2026[2] | Vulcan launches paused after a Q1 2026 anomaly; each parent guaranteed $500M of ULA credit facilities (May 2026) | Lockheed Martin gave the same $500M guarantee |
| Human Spaceflight[2,3] | CST-100 Starliner (NASA Commercial Crew) | Orion crew vehicle (NASA Artemis) |
| Human Spaceflight Status (Oct 2026)[2,7] | Crewed Flight Test (June 2024) returned uncrewed in Sept 2024; next, an uncrewed flight no earlier than Q4 2026 | Flew its first crew on Artemis II, April 1 to 10, 2026 |
| NASA Artemis Role[3,4] | SLS core stage prime contractor | Orion prime contractor |
| Satellite Programs (examples)[3,6] | O3b mPOWER for SES; small-satellite constellations through Millennium Space Systems | GPS III, Next Gen OPIR missile warning, SDA Transport and Tracking Layer satellites |
| Missile Defense[1,3] | Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) | Next Generation Interceptor (Space); THAAD and PAC-3 (Missiles and Fire Control segment) |
| Corporate Headquarters[1,3] | Arlington, VA | Bethesda, MD (Space sites include Denver, CO; Sunnyvale, CA; Huntsville, AL) |
Boeing and Lockheed Martin each own 50% of United Launch Alliance (ULA), and still did at June 30, 2026. After a Vulcan launch anomaly in the first quarter of 2026 paused Vulcan launches, each parent agreed in May 2026 to guarantee $500 million of ULA credit facilities. Lockheed reports space as its own Space segment ($13.0 billion of 2025 sales, which also includes Trident II D5 missiles and missile defense), with programs such as Orion, GPS III and Next Gen OPIR; Boeing's space work sits inside its Defense, Space & Security segment ($27.2 billion in 2025, most of it defense).[1,2,3]
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner flew its Crewed Flight Test in June 2024; after propulsion system anomalies the capsule returned to Earth uncrewed in September 2024, and Boeing now expects an uncrewed flight no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2026. Boeing also builds the SLS core stage and has been NASA's ISS prime contractor since 1993. Lockheed's Orion carried its first crew on Artemis II, which launched on April 1, 2026 and splashed down on April 10, 2026.[2,4,5,7]
Track both companies on SpaceNexus