The second summit of the Space Shuttle Service Life
Extension Program (SLEP) is under way this morning at the San
Luis Resort in Galveston, Texas. Armed with the President’s
clear vision for the future of the Space Shuttle, some 400
representatives from government, the aerospace industry and
academia are meeting for two days to prioritize investments in
the Shuttle fleet.

Michael Kostelnik, NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for
International Space Station and Space Shuttle Programs, will
talk to reporters about the results of the summit during a news
conference Thursday, Feb. 19, at 9 a.m. EST at NASA’s Johnson
Space Center, Houston. Kostelnik will also take questions from
reporters at participating NASA centers. The news conference
will be carried live on NASA Television.

The first SLEP summit, in March 2003, established a process for
determining the most important areas for investing in the Space
Shuttle fleet. This year, summit participants will work to
produce a prioritized list of Shuttle investments.

Video b-roll of the summit will be fed on NASA TV Video File
beginning at noon EST Wednesday, Feb. 18.

Copies of key presentations from the SLEP Summit will be made
available online Thursday at:

http://www.nasa.gov/news/highlights/returntoflight.html

NASA Television is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band,
located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0
MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80
MHz. For information about NASA TV on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html