CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the C-5M aircraft that delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, to the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-134 Mission Specialists Greg Chamitoff and Andrew Feustel take a walk around the AMS still secured in the aircraft's cargo bay. In the background is European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori. AMS, a state-of-the-art particle physics detector, is designed to operate as an external module on the International Space Station. It will use the unique environment of space to study the universe and its origin by searching for dark matter. AMS will fly to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission targeted to launch Feb. 26, 2011. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2010-4480

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, workers watch closely as the second half of the fairing moves toward NASA's Kepler spacecraft (left) to complete encapsulation. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The liftoff of Kepler aboard the Delta II rocket is currently targeted for launch in a window extending 10:49 to 10:52 p.m. EST March 6 from Pad 17-B. Kepler is designed to survey more than 100,000 stars in our galaxy to determine the number of sun-like stars that have Earth-size and larger planets, including those that lie in a star's "habitable zone," a region where liquid water, and perhaps life, could exist. If these Earth-size worlds do exist around stars like our sun, Kepler is expected to be the first to find them and the first to measure how common they are. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2009-1888

S135E009131 - STS-135 - Interior View of Node 2 and Raffaello

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Orbiter Processing Facility, STS-123 Mission Specialists Michael Foreman and Robert Behnken inspect the thermal protection system tiles on the underside of space shuttle Endeavour. They and other crew members are at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a crew equipment interface test, a process of familiarization with payloads, hardware and the space shuttle. The STS-123 mission is targeted for launch on space shuttle Endeavour on Feb. 14. It will be the 25th assembly flight of the station. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-07pd3556

Coast Guard pilots secure operations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

STS066-13-010 - STS-066 - PC Ochoa and Cdr. McMonagle work on Atlantis' flight deck during STS-66

S135E009129 - STS-135 - Interior View of Node 2 and Raffaello

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the C-5M aircraft that delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, to the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-134 Mission Specialists Greg Chamitoff and Andrew Feustel take a walk around the AMS still secured in the aircraft's cargo bay. In the background is European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori. AMS, a state-of-the-art particle physics detector, is designed to operate as an external module on the International Space Station. It will use the unique environment of space to study the universe and its origin by searching for dark matter. AMS will fly to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission targeted to launch Feb. 26, 2011. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2010-4480

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the C-5M aircraft that delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, to the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-134 Mission Specialists Greg Chamitoff and Andrew Feustel take a walk around the AMS still secured in the aircraft's cargo bay. In the background is European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori. AMS, a state-of-the-art particle physics detector, is designed to operate as an external module on the International Space Station. It will use the unique environment of space to study the universe and its origin by searching for dark matter. AMS will fly to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission targeted to launch Feb. 26, 2011. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Space Shuttle Program

The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.