From Newsgroup: sci.space.news

April 19, 2011

Stephanie Schierholz 
Headquarters, Washington      
202-358-1100 
stephanie.schierholz{at}nasa.gov 

Candrea Thomas 
Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 
321-867-2468 
candrea.k.thomas{at}nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 11-116

NASA SETS LAUNCH DATE FOR SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR MISSION

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Commander Mark Kelly and his 
five crewmates are scheduled to begin a 14-day mission to the 
International Space Station with a launch at 3:47 p.m. EDT on Friday, 
April 29, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-134 
mission is shuttle Endeavour's final scheduled flight. 

The launch date was announced Tuesday at the conclusion of a flight 
readiness review at Kennedy. During the meeting, senior NASA and 
contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the mission 
and determined the shuttle and station's equipment, support systems 
and personnel are ready. 

The crew will deliver a particle physics detector, known as the Alpha 
Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) to the station. AMS is designed to 
measure cosmic rays to search for various types of unusual matter, 
such as dark matter and antimatter. The instrument's experiments will 
help researchers study the formation of the universe. Endeavour also 
will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier 3, a platform that carries 
spare parts to sustain station operations after the shuttles are 
retired from service. The mission will feature the last four 
spacewalks by a shuttle crew. The spacewalkers will do maintenance 
work, install new components, and perform a complex series of tasks 
to top off the ammonia in one of the station's photovoltaic thermal 
control system cooling loops. 

The crew consists of Commander Kelly, Pilot Greg H. Johnson, NASA 
Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Andrew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff 
and European Space Agency Mission Specialist Roberto Vittori. They 
are scheduled to arrive at Kennedy on Tuesday, April 26, for final 
launch preparations. 

STS-134 is the 134th shuttle mission, Endeavour's 25th flight and the 
36th shuttle mission to the station. 

For more information about the STS-134 mission, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle 

For more information about the space station, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/station 
	
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