Wed, Apr 20, 2011
Launch Officially Set For April 29
Space shuttle Commander Mark Kelly and his five crewmates are
scheduled to begin a 14-day mission to the International Space
Station with a launch at 1547 EDT on Friday, April 29, from NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-134 mission is shuttle
Endeavour's final scheduled flight.
The launch date was announced Tuesday at the conclusion of a
flight readiness review at Kennedy. During the meeting, senior NASA
and contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the
mission and determined the shuttle and station's equipment, support
systems and personnel are ready.
The crew will deliver a particle physics detector, known as the
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) to the station. AMS is designed
to measure cosmic rays to search for various types of unusual
matter, such as dark matter and antimatter. The instrument's
experiments will help researchers study the formation of the
universe. Endeavour also will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier
3, a platform that carries spare parts to sustain station
operations after the shuttles are retired from service. The mission
will feature the last four spacewalks by a shuttle crew. The
spacewalkers will do maintenance work, install new components, and
perform a complex series of tasks to top off the ammonia in one of
the station's photovoltaic thermal control system cooling
loops.
The crew consists of Commander Kelly, Pilot Greg H. Johnson,
NASA Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Andrew Feustel and Greg
Chamitoff and European Space Agency Mission Specialist Roberto
Vittori. They are scheduled to arrive at Kennedy on Tuesday, April
26, for final launch preparations.
STS-134 is the 134th shuttle mission, Endeavour's 25th flight
and the 36th shuttle mission to the station.
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