Now that Space Shuttle “Discovery” has successfully completed its last mission – STS 133 – “our” AMS space experiment is ready to depart on the next Space Shuttle mission. 

After 28 years of service, “Discovery” returned safely to earth from its flight to the International Space Station (ISS) on 9 March, landing on schedule at the Space Center in Cape Canaveral at 17:57 CET. That was the last mission for “Discovery”, which will now be taken out of service. 

The AMS (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) space physics experiment developed in partnership with ISATEC, which is now undergoing final testing at the Kennedy Space Center, is scheduled to start with the next mission of Space Shuttle “Endeavour”. As a key engineering partner, we look forward eagerly to the launch of the mission, during which the AMS will be deployed on the ISS. 

Undertaken on short notice in response to a decision made in early 2010, the conversion of the AMS to a different magnet system with a larger trace detector posed a real challenge for the ISATEC team. Thanks to the outstanding commitment of our colleagues, this task was also completed on schedule and to the complete satisfaction of participating scientists and NASA project managers. 

Mission STS-134 is scheduled to start on 19 April 2011. The countdown can be followed at <link http: ams.nasa.gov>ams.nasa.gov. 

Link to the AMS experiment site: <link http: www.ams02.org>www.ams02.org. 

Photo: Steve Jurvetson