Media invited to ceremony to mark final Atlas II rocket built at Lockheed Martin’s Denver facilities
Lockheed Martin will mark another significant milestone in its Atlas program
this week. The company will ship out the last of its Atlas II launch
vehicles from its Final Assembly Building (FAB) near Denver, making more
room for production of its next-generation Atlas V family of launch
vehicles. More than a thousand Lockheed Martin employees will participate
in a ceremony Friday, May 14, 2 p.m. mountain time in the FAB, along with
invited guests, customers and Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton.
MEDIA ARE INVITED
The Atlas II ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, May 14, at Lockheed
Martin’s Launch Vehicle Final Assembly Building at its Waterton Facilities
near Denver, Colo. News media should contact Joan Underwood at 303-971-7398
(office) or 800-745-8198 (pager) for accreditation and for escort to the
event. Media should plan to arrive at the Waterton Main Gate at 1:15 p.m.
The event celebrates the heritage of the Atlas II series of launch vehicles,
which boasts a 100 percent success record throughout 61 missions over the
past 13 years. This workhorse of the American launch vehicle fleet has
evolved into the larger, more powerful Atlas V series, which is also off to
a flawless start in its three missions flown to date.
Atlas launch vehicles are built by an extraordinary team of men and women at
Lockheed Martin operations in Denver, Colo.; San Diego, Calif.; and
Harlingen, Texas. They are launched by the most experienced launch teams in
the world at Lockheed Martin and International Launch Services, from east
and west coast launch sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Fla., and
Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Since the first Atlas II launch in 1991, all 61 of the Atlas II, IIA and
IIAS vehicles have successfully placed vital payloads into orbit for
government and commercial satellite customers worldwide. The Atlas team has
achieved a total of 71 consecutive successful Atlas missions with the
team-wide motto of "one launch at a time."
An Atlas IIAS is already at Cape Canaveral, being prepared for launch of a
commercial communications satellite next week, May 19. The final Atlas
IIAS which will be featured at the May 14 ceremony in Denver, is scheduled
to launch a national security payload June 30 from Cape Canaveral for the
National Reconnaissance Office.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, headquartered near Denver, Colo., is
one of the major operating units of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Space
Systems Company designs, develops, tests and manufactures a variety of
advanced technology systems for space and defense. Chief products include
space launch systems, defense systems, interplanetary and science
spacecraft, spacecraft for commercial and government customers, fleet
ballistic missiles and missile defense systems.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin employs about 130,000
people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design,
development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems,
products and services. The Corporation reported 2003 sales of $31.8 billion.
Contact:
Joan Underwood, 303-971-7398, email, joan.b.underwood@lmco.com
