STS-134 Payload Installation Begins Today

Launch Pad 39A crews at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will install the STS-134 mission’s payload into space shuttle Endeavour’s cargo bay today and expect to complete attaching key components on Saturday.

During the 14-day mission to the International Space Station, Endeavour’s six astronauts will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2, a particle physics detector designed to search for various types of unusual matter by measuring cosmic rays and the Express Logistics Carrier-3, a platform that carries spare parts that will sustain station operations once the shuttles are retired later this year.

At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, STS-134 Mission Specialists Michael Fincke and Greg Chamitoff are rehearsing techniques for the mission’s fourth and final spacewalk in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory today.

Launch of Endeavour on the STS-134 mission to the International Space Station is targeted for 7:48 p.m. EDT April 19.