Endeavour's Last Flight

The Space Shuttle Endeavour launched for the last time this morning at 8:56am EDT, carrying 6 astronauts and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), as well as the new STORRM navigation and docking system to the International Space Station. This is the second-to-last flight of the Space Shuttle fleet, the last flight will be Atlantis' STS-135 mission, scheduled for July 12, 2011.

The 20 year-old Endeavour first flew in 1992, and went to space 25 times. It was built in 1991 as a replacement for the Challenger space shuttle which was destroyed in 1986, and used spare parts left over from the construction of shuttles Atlantis and Discovery. It cost $1.7 billion. Space.com published cool pictures of the construction of Endeavour:

Endeavour under construction

The AMS is an instrument that hopefully will be able to prove the existence of Dark Matter in the Universe. Current theories and observations show that what we can see or detect (planets, stars and galaxies) only account for 5% of the total mass of the universe. The rest, 95% of the mass, has never been detected but its presence has been hypothesized by the gravitational pull it exerts on stars and galaxies.

The AMS will also try to detect the presence of Antimatter and exotic matter known as Strangelets.

The STORRM navigation and docking system will allow future spaceships like the Orion Crew Capsule to automatically dock with the Space Station with more precision, and more safely.