The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, which in many ways is the scientific and technological successor of the Hubble Space Telescope, in 2011. In 2002, the company now known as Northrop Grumman Space Technology (which was then TRW Space and Electronics) and its partners, Ball Aerospace and Eastman Kodak, were awarded the prime contract to build the observatory, formerly known as the Next Generation Space Telescope.