PALMDALE PICKED FOR SHUTTLE PROJECT : ATLANTIS MODIFICATION WORK TO SAVE 300 JOBS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Modification work on space shuttle Atlantis will be performed in Palmdale beginning this fall, a project that will help keep some 300 workers employed, NASA and contractor officials said Wednesday.

Palmdale was selected over Florida's Kennedy Space Center for two reasons: one, a prolonged inspection and modification period was a threat to disrupt preparations of other shuttle flights at Kennedy and, two, modifications for Atlantis are similar to those performed at Palmdale on the orbiters Discovery and Endeavour.

``Using Palmdale's resources will allow the program to take maximum advantage of the experience gained during the maintenance and modification work performed on the other two vehicles,'' a National Aeronautics and Space Administration statement said.

The location of future modification work beyond Atlantis will be determined on a case-by-case basis. The next orbiter scheduled for inspection and modifications is Columbia in November 1998. A decision on where that work will be done should come in early 1998.

Work on Atlantis will be begin after the orbiter completes a mission scheduled for September. Work on Atlantis will include 50 major modifications, including installing new navigation equipment and cockpit instrumentation and adding a storage module for parts that will be used in the construction of the international space station.

The modification work is expected to last about 10 months.

Although a final contract has not been negotiated, the modifications are expected to be in excess of $50 million.

Work on Atlantis will be performed by Boeing North American Space Systems Division. Boeing is doing the work as a subcontractor to United Space Alliance, a company formed by Boeing North American and Lockheed Martin to manage space shuttle operations. The work will be done at Boeing's shuttle hangar at Air Force Plant 42, the same hangar where all of the orbiters were built.

Boeing workers are now performing modifications to the orbiter Endeavour. Those modifications are expected to be completed this spring.

There are about 600 people employed by the space shuttle program in Palmdale. About half are employed to perform modifications to shuttles. The other half of the work force manufactures shuttle parts.

It has not been decided whether NASA will land the orbiter in Palmdale rather than ferrying it atop a modified Boeing 747 from nearby Edwards Air Force Base or from Kennedy Space Center. NASA and the alliance are studying whether Plant 42 could handle a shuttle landing.

Plant 42 has two 12,000-foot concrete runways, each with 1,000-foot asphalt ``overruns'' sections on each end. The runways can support up to 1 million pounds of weight.

Shuttles typically use about 9,000 to 10,000 feet of runway to land and weigh about 240,000 pounds.

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Photo: (Ran in SAC and AV--color) Space shuttle Atlantis glides over xenon lights at the end of Kennedy Space Center's Runway 33 before landing Wednesday in Florida.

Associated Press