The first of the trio, an Atlas IIA carrying the TDRS-J satellite for NASA, is scheduled for launch by International Launch Services on December 4 from Launch Complex 36A. This will be the 23rd and final Atlas IIA to launch, closing out a run of 100 percent Mission Success for all Atlas II variants going back to 1991.

At Complex 36B an Atlas III booster was mounted on the launch pad Nov. 4, and the Centaur upper stage was stacked atop the booster Nov. 8. This will be the third Atlas III launch, following the two successful missions in May 2000 and February of this year. The Atlas III is being processed for a planned launch of the AsiaSat 4 satellite in the early part of 2003.

The second Atlas V, designated AV-002, is being processed at Complex 41 for a planned launch early next year with the first satellite for the Greek-Cypriot consortium Hellas-Sat. The booster was erected in the vertical integration facility Oct. 23; the Centaur upper stage was stacked atop the booster Oct. 28.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, headquartered in Denver, Colo., is one of the major operating units of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Space Systems designs, develops, tests, manufactures and operates a variety of advanced technology systems for military, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include a full-range of space launch systems, including heavy-lift capability, ground systems, remote sensing and communications satellites for commercial and government customers, advanced space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft, fleet ballistic missiles and missile defense systems.

ILS, based in McLean, Va., offers launch services to customers worldwide on the Lockheed Martin Atlas and the Russian Proton rocket built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia. ILS offers the broadest range of launch services in the world along with products with the highest reliability in the industry.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a highly diversified global enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced-technology systems, products and services. The Corporation�s core businesses span space and telecommunications, electronics, information and services, aeronautics, energy and systems integration. Lockheed Martin had 2001 sales surpassing $24 billion.