Endeavour: Final voyage into Space

The Space Shuttle Endeavour launched just under two hours ago from Kennedy Space Center at 8:56am EDT, that is 13:56pm BST for anyone in my home country.  A launch was scheduled for 29th April 2011 but was delayed due to an electrical problem. In case you don't know about the purpose of this mission, here is some information about what the mission objective is and what the equipment being sent will be used for.

The mission objective is to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS-02), the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier-3 (ELC3), a high pressure gas tank and various spares parts to the international space station. It is the last flight for the Endeavour shuttle and was initially the final mission of the space shuttle program, until information was released regarding an additional mission scheduled for launch in July.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 is a state of the art machine which has been in constant development since the initial concept was proposed in 1995. The prototype Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-01), was first sent into space on the Discovery in June 1998. The machine will be used to aid understanding of the universe and of the origins of the universe, it will be mounted externally and measure cosmic rays to try and detect dark matter and antimatter. Below is a NASA video overview of the machine.

The ExPRESS Logistics Carrier-3 is an unpressurized payload platform which is used to allow scientists to deploy experiments in the vacuum of space as well as providing electrical power and data handling services for these experiments. The ELC-3 will join the other three ExPRESS Logistic Carrier platforms already attached to the International Space Station.

This will be Endeavours final mission and after the scheduled mission in July will mean the decommission of the space shuttle program. The space shuttle will then be replaced with the Orion spacecraft which is currently being built and is planned to begin testing in 2013. For more information about the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 visit this site http://www.ams02.org/what-is-ams/