KSC-2010-4493

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers begin to offload the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, from an Air Force C-5M aircraft, which flew in from Europe. The tractor-trailer will transport the AMS from the Shuttle Landing Facility runway to the Space Station Processing Facility, where it will be processed for launch. The state-of-the-art particle physics detector is designed to operate as an external module on the International Space Station. It will use the unique environment of space to study the universe and its origin by searching for dark matter. AMS will fly to the station aboard space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission targeted to launch Feb. 26, 2011. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller