Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has hired two veteran aerospace industry managers to lead the company's efforts to provide integration and production support for NASA's Ares I Instrument Unit contract for the Ares I Launch Vehicle.

  (Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070626/LATU122-A
           http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070626/LATU122-B)

Robert Seto has been named program manager for the Ball Aerospace team for the Ares Instrument Unit here. Seto brings 30 years of experience on large development programs for commercial aircraft and space transportation systems to the Ares pursuit. Seto joins Ball Aerospace from Rocketplane Kistler where he worked on NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation System and served as vice president of engineering and, most recently, chief of staff. He also held leadership positions at Bombardier Aerospace, Bell Helicopter Textron, and Pratt & Whitney.

Seto holds a master's degree in business administration from Newman University, Wichita, Kan., and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Also joining the company is Chris Crumbly, who will serve as deputy program manager-subcontracts for the Ares pursuit. Previously, Crumbly worked at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, where he was the deputy manager of Propulsion Systems Engineering and Integration in Marshall's Shuttle Propulsion Office. He also served as chief systems engineer for NASA's Constellation Program Office, and held several key leadership roles in NASA's Space Launch Initiative and Orbital Space Plane programs.

Crumbly holds both a bachelor's and master's degree in aerospace engineering from Auburn University.

Seto and Crumbly will work directly with Bill Townsend, vice president for Exploration Systems. Ball Aerospace is pursuing a contract to provide integration and production support to NASA for the Ares I Instrument Unit. The Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle will launch the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, the system currently being designed to replace the space shuttle after its retirement in 2010.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions of important national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. Over the past 50 years, Ball Aerospace has been responsible for numerous technological and scientific 'firsts' and acts as a technology innovator for the aerospace market.

Ball Corporation is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products for beverage, food and household customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 15,500 people worldwide and reported 2006 sales of $6.6 billion.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward- looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99.2 in our Form 10-K, which are available at our Web site and at http://www.sec.gov/. Factors that might affect our packaging segments include fluctuation in consumer and customer demand and preferences; availability and cost of raw materials, including recent significant increases in resin, steel, aluminum and energy costs, and the ability to pass such increases on to customers; competitive packaging availability, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; crop yields; industry productive capacity and competitive activity; failure to achieve anticipated productivity improvements or production cost reductions, including those associated with our beverage can end project; the German mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; and changes in foreign exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign subsidiaries. Factors that might affect our aerospace segment include: funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts. Factors that might affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: accounting changes; successful or unsuccessful acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; integration of recently acquired businesses; regulatory action or laws including tax, environmental and workplace safety; governmental investigations; technological developments and innovations; goodwill impairment; antitrust, patent and other litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes; reduced cash flow; interest rates affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results due to statutory audits or other effects.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: rbrown@ball.com

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070626/LATU122-A
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070626/LATU122-B
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: ENTER PRN17, 18
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

SOURCE: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.