On tap today is the top scientific priority of the STS-134 mission, installing Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS-2) on the International Space Station’s truss, where it can sift through cosmic particles, seeking the answers to fundamental questions of physics.
The $2 billion, 15,251- pound instrument will be plucked from Endeavour’s payload bay by Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel and Roberto Vittori using the space shuttle’s robotic arm early Thursday. They’ll hand it off to the space station’s Canadarm2, and Pilot Greg Johnson and Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff will then install it on the starboard side of the station’s truss.
From its new perch on top of the station’s truss, it will begin observations of the cosmos and automatically send information to scientists on Earth for the life of the station.
Endeavour’s crew and Expedition 27 Flight Engineer Ron Garan, who is matching schedules with the shuttle crew, were awakened at 10:56 p.m. The wake-up song is scheduled to be transmitted about 30 minutes after wakeup, after a communications drop-out clears.