Endeavor Lifts Off

The final mission of space shuttle Endeavor kicked off on Monday, carrying on board six astronauts and an entire load of supplies and equipment. The launch took place as planned at 8:56 a.m. EDT, under a clear blue sky over the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The final flight into space of the Endeavor will last for about two weeks, time during which the crew led by Commander Mark Kelly will be stationed on the International Space Station (ISS). The mission has four spacewalks planned, to install the new supplies and do maintenance on the Space Station.

The shuttle carries to the ISS spare parts, supplies and a $2 billion astrophysics experiment. The experiment, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector that will be deployed to search for antimatter, dark matter and to measure cosmic rays.

"We’re taking up a very important experiment, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a science experiment that could change the course of physics," pilot Gregory H. Johnson said in a NASA interview. "It's one of those rare kinds of experiments, that it really might just open some new doors that we never even knew existed."

After the tour is over, the shuttle will land for the last time and will be decommissioned. Just as was the case with the first shuttle to be retired, the Discovery, the Endeavor too will be stripped of essential components and in the end shipped to the California Science Center in Los Angeles to be on display for future generations.