Endeavour's Payload Installation Slated This Week

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and a pallet loaded with large spare parts will be taken to Launch Pad 39A and loaded into space shuttle Endeavour's payload bay this week. The items were loaded into a payload canister last week for tonight's trip to the pad. The canister's interior is the same dimensions as the shuttle's 60-foot-long cargo bay. The launch pad's rotating service structure is equipped with a crane that will lift the canister to an enclosed clean room in the gantry before the service structure is moved back around Endeavour. Friday, the AMS and pallet will be locked into Endeavour's cargo bay for launch.

At NASA's Johnson Space Center, the STS-134 crew will practice procedures for the missions third space walk in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Launch of Endeavour on the STS-134 mission to the International Space Station is targeted for April 19.