A technician monitors an overhead crane so it can be placed onto a work stand and processed for launch.

In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician monitors an overhead crane as it lifts the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, so it can be placed onto a work stand and processed for launch.

AMS, a 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 International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission targeted to launch Feb. 26, 2011. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller