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Last Shuttle ride to ISS for ESA astronaut with 'dark matter' hunter (Forwarded)



 
 
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Old April 21st 11, 09:28 PM posted to sci.space.news
Andrew Yee[_1_]
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Default Last Shuttle ride to ISS for ESA astronaut with 'dark matter' hunter (Forwarded)

European Space Agency
Paris, France

Press Release No. PR 13-2011

19 April 2011

Last Shuttle ride to ISS for ESA astronaut with 'dark matter' hunter

ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori and the five other astronauts of the STS-134
mission will be launched to the International Space Station on Space Shuttle
Endeavour on 29 April to deliver a pioneering scientific experiment.

This penultimate flight of NASA's spaceplane will deliver an instrument
designed to track elusive antimatter and 'dark matter' in the Universe.

Liftoff on the 14-day STS-134 mission is scheduled for 19:47 GMT (21:47
CEST), with the docking to the International Space Station (ISS) due two
days later, on 1 May.

The last European to fly on a Shuttle, Roberto Vittori will be the first ESA
astronaut to make a third visit to the ISS. It will also be his first flight
on the Shuttle. On his two previous missions, in 2002 and 2005, he travelled
on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Arriving at the ISS, he will meet another Italian ESA astronaut, Paolo
Nespoli, who has been aboard since 17 December.

On her last flight before retirement, Endeavour will carry a highly
sophisticated European fundamental physics experiment. Mounted on the
Station's main truss, the AMS-02 alpha magnetic spectrometer will probe the
little-explored realm of high-energy cosmic rays to look for signs of
antimatter and the mysterious dark matter.

Antimatter is believed to have been created on a par with normal matter but
it seems to have disappeared from the Universe we know today. Dark matter is
estimated to account for around 90% of our Universe's mass but it has not
been detected directly so far. This dark matter element is reflected in the
name 'DAMA' of Roberto Vittori's mission.

The AMS-02 observations could be of paramount importance for understanding
the origin, nature and evolution of the Universe.

STS-134 marks the end of ESA's participation in Space Shuttle missions,
which started in November 1981 with the first flight of Europe's Spacelab
pallet on the second launch of Columbia. Over three decades, ESA astronauts
will have flown on 26 missions and, counting payloads, hardware and
experiments, Europe will have been involved in 86 missions by the time of
the Shuttle's final venture, STS-135, in June.

Beginning with the Spacelab agreement in 1973, this historical and close
partnership with NASA will live on through the ISS and future international
human spaceflight ventures.

This last Shuttle flight of an ESA astronaut will not mean the end of ESA's
presence on the Station, which will continue at least through 2020. Two ESA
astronauts are training for future 6-month missions on the orbital outpost:
AndrKuipers will be launched in November this year and Luca Parmitano in
December 2013, both in Soyuz spacecraft.

Covering the launch

ESA TV is providing extensive coverage of this penultimate Shuttle mission.
Several stories are available on ESA TV's FTP server and transmitted via
satellite on the Europe by Satellite (EbS) service.

ESA TV will relay NASA TV live via satellite for broadcasters in Europe from
the Kennedy Space Center before launch, in addition to providing the latest
images of the Shuttle on the pad and interviews on location. ESA TV will
also relay NASA TV daily highlights throughout the mission.

Details will be given and updated on the ESA TV website, at
http://television.esa.int

The latest high-resolution images can be found by registering on ESA's Photo
Library for Professionals, at
http://www.esa-photolibrary.com

Questions on images for media can be directed to


For further information, please contact:

ESA Media Relations Office
Communication Department
Tel: +33 1 53 69 72 99
Fax: +33 1 53 69 76 90

Rosita Suenson
Communication Programme Officer for Human Spaceflight and Operations
Tel: +31 71 565 3009

[NOTE: Images and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMZ...G_index_1.html ]

 




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