Awwal 16, 1432, April 20, 2011, SPA -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Tuesday confirmed plans to launch the space shuttle Endeavour on its final mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on April 29. The U.S. space agency's confirmation came following a readiness review meeting at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The 14-day mission will include the last spacewalks by a U.S. shuttle crew at the orbiting laboratory, and will mark the second-to-last flight of the aging U.S. shuttle program. The six-member crew, comprised of five Americans and one Italian, will deliver "a particle physics detector, known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 ... designed to measure cosmic rays to search for various types of unusual matter, such as dark matter and antimatter," NASA said. Endeavour also will transport the Express Logistics Carrier 3, a platform for spare parts that will stay at the space station. The mission will be the 25th flight for Endeavour, and the 36th shuttle trip to the ISS. After the U.S. shuttle program ends later this year, astronauts will rely on Russia's space capsules for transit to and from the orbiting research station.
