Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. will open its new Ball Conference Center (BCC) in conjunction with Huntsville's celebration of the 50th anniversary of spaceflight next month which culminates with the grand opening of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration on January 31, 2008.

The conference center, at 4815 Bradford Drive, is part of Ball's Bradford facility in the Cummings Research Park. The BCC will offer convenient access for local government representatives to the subcontractor community. Ball will also use the location to train and familiarize customers and partners with Ball's successful, innovation-based culture and business approaches. The facility's audio-visual and communication capabilities will facilitate training and provide ample space for support activities.

Ball Aerospace secured office space in Huntsville earlier this year as the company pursued the contract to provide integration and production support to NASA's Ares I Instrument Unit Avionics (IUA). Ball Aerospace expects to have a team of approximately 65 employees in the Huntsville area by the end of the first quarter in 2008, following the successful selection for the contract by NASA.

Vice President for Exploration Systems, Bill Townsend, is leading Ball's overall efforts in Huntsville, with the Ares IUA program to be managed by Robert Seto. Ball Aerospace added teammates Hamilton Sundstrand and Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne to pursue the IUA contract. In addition to identifying Huntsville facilities from which to execute the contract, Team Ball has made major investments to successfully meet the requirements of the IUA contract. These investments will enable Team Ball to commence performance immediately upon contract award.

"We are ready on day one of the contract to offer the team's best performance in helping NASA achieve its ambitious exploration goals," said Townsend.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., headquartered in Boulder, Colo., provides critical mission support to the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government organizations and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures space systems, including spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components; and offers 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 product 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; competitive activity; failure to achieve anticipated productivity improvements or production cost reductions, including our beverage can end project; 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

SOURCE: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.