At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Prof. Jean Pierre Vialle, AMS French Coordinator, addresses the media before the arrival of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS.
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. The STS-134 crew will fly AMS to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour, targeted to launch Feb. 26, 2011. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett