NOTICE TO EDITORS: The KSC press site will open for landing activities at 8
a.m. Friday, April 19. Accredited news media wishing to view Atlantis’
landing should be at the KSC News Center by 10:30 a.m. for transport to the
SLF. STS-110 launch badging requirements and security restrictions for the
media remain in effect. Media parking will be at Gate 3 on S.R. 405.
Additional information regarding accreditation, transportation to the KSC
Press Site, landing photo opportunities, post-landing press conferences with
the STS-110 crew, and News Center operational hours is available by calling
the KSC News Center.

Atlantis Scheduled to Land at KSC April 19

The orbiter Atlantis is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center
(KSC) Friday, April 19, at about 12:26 p.m. EDT completing the nearly 11-day
STS-110 mission to deliver and install the S0 truss on the International
Space Station. Atlantis launched from KSC on April 8, 2002.

Landing at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) is slated to occur
on orbit 170 at mission elapsed time 10 days, 19 hours, 42 minutes. The
deorbit burn will occur at about 11:20 a.m. EDT. The two KSC landing
opportunities on April 19 are at 12:26 p.m. EDT and at 2:03 p.m. EDT.

If managers must keep Atlantis in orbit an additional day, two landing
opportunities are available on Saturday, April 20, at KSC at 11:18 a.m. EDT
and at 12:53 p.m. EDT. Two landing opportunities also exist at the back-up
landing location at Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB), Calif., on Saturday, at
2:24 p.m. EDT and at 3:59 p.m. EDT.

If landing occurs as scheduled, it will be the 59th landing at KSC
in the history of the Shuttle program. Following touchdown, Atlantis will be
towed to the Orbiter Processing Facility for post-mission servicing.

About an hour after touchdown, the crew will be taken to crew
quarters in the O&C Building, meet with their families and undergo physical
examinations. The Shuttle crew is scheduled to depart for Johnson Space
Center the day following landing.

If Atlantis lands at Edwards, an augmented KSC convoy team will be
on-site to safe the vehicle, disembark the crew and move the orbiter to the
Mate/Demate Device. The turnaround team will be deployed to Edwards by
charter aircraft on landing day.

SLF and KSC Ground Operations

The Shuttle Landing Facility was built in 1975. It is 300 feet wide
and 15,000 feet long with 1,000-foot overruns at each end. The strip runs
northwest to southeast and is located about three miles northwest of the
525-foot tall Vehicle Assembly Building.

Once the orbiter is on the ground, safing operations will commence and the
flight crew will prepare the vehicle for post-landing operations. The Crew
Transport Vehicle (CTV) will be used to assist the crew, allowing them to
leave the vehicle and remove their launch and re-entry suits easier and
quicker.

The CTV and other KSC landing convoy operations have been “on-call”
since the launch of Atlantis. The primary functions of the Space Shuttle
recovery convoy are to provide immediate service to the orbiter after
landing, assist crew egress, and prepare the orbiter for towing to the
Orbiter Processing Facility about three hours following touchdown.

Convoy vehicles are stationed at the SLF’s mid-point. About two
hours prior to landing, convoy personnel don SCAPE suits, or Self-Contained
Atmospheric Protective Ensemble, and communications checks are made. A
warming-up of coolant and purge equipment is conducted and nearly two-dozen
convoy vehicles are positioned to move onto the runway as quickly and as
safely as possible once the orbiter coasts to a stop. When the vehicle is
deemed safe of all potential explosive hazards and toxic gases, the purge
and coolant umbilical access vehicles move into position at the rear of the
orbiter.

Following purge and coolant operations, flight crew egress
preparations will begin and the CTV will be moved into position at the crew
access hatch located on the orbiter’s port side. A physician will board the
Shuttle and conduct a brief preliminary examination of the astronauts. The
crew will then make preparations to leave the vehicle.