26 February 2011, 4:19 p.m. EST, the AMS02 launch target date. NASA has just announced the new shuttle’s flights manifest: the STS-133 mission will fly the first of November over the Space Shuttle Discovery; then it’s STS-134 turn with AMS02 on board of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Both missions will  fly to the International Space Station. Then the shuttles’ career will come to an end after  thirty years of service. Follow the STS-134 launch countdown on our homepage!

The magnets swap has been completed and integration of the payloads on the Permanent Magnet is progressing regularly. After the installation of the ACC and the Tracker inner core, the integration team is perfectly on time. We are now working at the relocation of the Silicon Tracker planes, to match the Permanent Magnet configuration. The new Tracker support structures and all the elements needed for this operation are already at CERN. After the fit-check of new Tracker planes, the integration

The reintegration of each subdetector on the AMS  experiment – now in the permanent magnet configuration – must follow a precise sequence. First come the TTCS tubing, then the ACC, the Tracker, the  TAS, the Star Tracker, the  TRD with the  UTOF … and the sequence  goes on with the  TRDGAS, the  LUSS and  the TCS main radiators. In the meantime the Multy Layer Insulation (MLI), that will cover the entire experiment,  is being integrated separately. There are various reasons

During the past week many operations took place in the clean room. Both the permanent and the superconducting magnets were prepared for the switching. The AMS-02 integration team  completed the deintegration of all the detectors from the superconducting magnet. On the 1st of June, when all the preparation steps were completed, the superconducting magnet was removed from its support structure. The permanent magnet is being installed right now by the AMS collaboration. Its magnetic field has been mapped but we’re waiting for