NASA announced deadlines for U.S. and foreign national news media interested in on-site coverage of a potential Space Shuttle landing at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

Notice for a Shuttle landing at Dryden could be short. Organizations should consider accrediting Los Angeles-based reporters or news crews who could quickly travel to Dryden.

Media must submit requests for accreditation to the Dryden Public Affairs Office by:

April 13: deadline for foreign national journalists

May 18: deadline for journalists who are U.S. citizens

For accreditation media representatives must work for a legitimate, verifiable news gathering organization. Media representatives should fax requests for accreditation on their company letterhead to: 661/276-3566.

E-mail requests to: leslie.williams@dfrc.nasa.gov are acceptable for journalists who have been on-site at Dryden within the past year.

In the event of a landing at Dryden, limited facilities will be available only to accredited media. For more information, call the Dryden Public Affairs Office at: 661/276-3449.

The Discovery launch window is from May 15 to June 3. Discovery is expected to land at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla. However, if weather or other factors prevent landing at KSC, Discovery could be diverted to the primary back-up landing site at Dryden.

Foreign nationals, including permanent resident aliens, must provide: full name, date of birth, place of birth (city, state/province, country), media organization, citizenship, visa or passport number and expiration date, alien registration number, if a resident alien, driver’s license number and state/province of issue, and the last six digits of their U.S. social security number, if any. No personnel substitutions are allowed. Requesters must submit full information for any potential alternates in the original request.

U.S. citizens must furnish: full name, date of birth, place of birth, media organization, last six digits of social security number and driver’s license number, including the state of issue.

All requests must include the requestor’s phone number and e-mail address for follow-up contact.

For the latest information about NASA’s Return to Flight efforts on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight