Atlas Launch Facilities Withstand Hurricanes; ILS and Lockheed Martin Team Readies Next Vehicle

Atlas Launch Facilities Withstand Hurricanes; ILS and Lockheed Martin Team
Readies Next Vehicle

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla., Sept. 28, 2004 - International
Launch Services (ILS) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) are preparing for the
final Atlas mission of the year, having come through a series of hurricanes
with launch facilities relatively unscathed.

The next vehicle, an Atlas V 521 launcher designated AV-005, arrived at Cape
Canaveral last week from the Lockheed Martin manufacturing center near
Denver, Colo. AV-005 is scheduled to launch the Lockheed Martin-built AMC-16
satellite for SES AMERICOM in December. ILS manages all Atlas missions.

"We want to reassure our customers that our facilities are intact and we are
pressing ahead to meet our Atlas launch commitments," said ILS President
Mark Albrecht.

The booster portion of the rocket was unloaded Friday, shortly before
evacuations were ordered as Hurricane Jeanne approached the Central Florida
coast. The vehicle was secured inside the Atlas Spaceflight Operations
Center (ASOC), part of the state-of-the-art Complex 41 completed in 2002 to
support Atlas V launches. Both the vehicle and the building came through the
weekend storm undamaged.

Lockheed Martin has a detailed hurricane preparedness plan, with specific
procedures to safe and secure all launch facilities. The company works
closely with U.S. Air Force and NASA weather forecasters to anticipate the
impact of tropical systems.

"We are fortunate to have seen only minimal damage. Because we took
precautions in building and securing the facilities, we are able to resume
launch processing in a timely fashion," said Adrian Laffitte, Lockheed
Martin director of Atlas launch operations. A company Damage and Recovery
Team began assessing damages right after Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne moved
on. At Air Force direction, Cape Canaveral facilities began closing for
Frances Sept. 1, and were reopened by Sept. 9. They closed for Jeanne
Friday, and staff began returning today, with a normal workday expected
Wednesday.

Built to meet the latest Florida hurricane safety requirements, the ASOC and
associated structures remained secure throughout the storms. Damages were
slight and mostly external, and repairs necessitated by Frances' wind and
rain were under way or completed by the time Jeanne passed through.

Lockheed Martin has an emergency management team that convenes during
natural disaster events. This team held daily teleconferences throughout the
storm periods for Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne in August and
September, and had vehicles and supplies ready to assist with recovery,
should that have been necessary.

On Aug. 31, the Atlas team successfully launched an Atlas IIAS vehicle with
a national security payload. This was the last launch from Pad 36A. Pad 36B
will see its final launch in early 2005, with the final flight of an Atlas
III vehicle and another national security payload. The buildings at Complex
36 withstood the storms with small rain leakage and minor exterior damage.

ILS has completed five successful launches on Atlas vehicles to date in
2004, and three on its other vehicle, the Russian Proton rocket. ILS is a
joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Khrunichev State Research and
Production Space Center of Russia. ILS markets and manages the missions on
the Atlas vehicle in the United States and on the Proton rocket at the
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. ILS was formed in 1995, and is based in
McLean, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.

ILS is the global leader in launch services, offering the industry's two
best launch systems: Atlas and Proton. With a remarkable launch rate of 66
missions since 2000, the Atlas and Proton launch vehicles have consistently
demonstrated the reliability and flexibility that have made them the
preferred choice among satellite operators worldwide. Since the beginning of
2003, ILS has signed more new commercial contracts than all of its
competitors combined.

Lockheed Martin, headquartered in Bethesda, Md., employs about 130,000
people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design or
development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems,
products and services. The corporation reported 2003 sales of $31.8 billion.

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Contacts:

Fran Slimmer, International Launch Services, McLean, Va.; 1-571-633-7462;
mobile: 1-646-229-4801;

Julie Andrews, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Cape Canaveral, Fla.;
1-321-853-1567; mobile 1-321-750-1000;

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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info