posted 08-27-2010 08:50 AM               

The AMS-02 experiment moves to the Kennedy Space Center. Next stop: the ISS

After an 11 hour-long flight, the US Air Force C-5 Galaxy carrying the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) experiment has landed at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, US. Yesterday, at the Geneva International Airport, the 7.5-ton experiment had been loaded into the aircraft, which is one of the largest in the world.

At the KSC, AMS-02 will undergo a few additional tests in the Space Station Processing Facility of NASA before being launched on board the Space Shuttle Discovery on its final mission to space. Once docked on the International Space Station, the experiment will collect data for more than a decade.

From space, AMS-02 will examine fundamental issues about matter and the origin and structure of the Universe. Its main scientific target is the search for dark matter and antimatter, in a programme that is complementary to that of the Large Hadron Collider.

• CERN press release
  
• CERN photo gallery
  
• European Space Agency (ESA) press release

posted 08-27-2010 04:51 PM               

STS-134 Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Andrew Fuestel, Pilot Gregory C. Johnson, Commander Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff (in blue flight suits) join the Air Force C-5M flight crew that delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, to the Shuttle Landing Facility, in a group photo opportunity.

Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

In the Space Station Processing Facility, a technician releases the bolts on a panel that protected the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, during shipment. The Air Force C-5M flight crew that delivered AMS to Kennedy left their signatures and good wishes for the success of the mission on the panel.

Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin

AMS, a state-of-the-art particle physics detector, is designed to operate as an external module on the International Space Station. It will use the unique environment of space to study the universe and its origin by searching for dark matter. The STS-134 crew will fly AMS to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour, targeted to launch Feb. 26, 2011.

Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin