The Alpha Magnetic AMS is above a payload canister after technicians measured its weight and center of gravity.

In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 AMS is above a payload canister after technicians measured its weight and center of gravity. The canister will protect the space-bound payload on its journey to Launch Pad 39A, where it will later be installed into space shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay.

AMS is a particle physics detector, designed to operate as an external experiment 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-2 will fly to the station aboard Endeavour's STS-134 mission targeted to launch April 19 at 7:48 p.m. EDT. For more information visit, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts134/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann