AT CERN ON WEDNESDAY 25 JULY, 2012 AT 10:30
IN THE PAYLOAD AND OPERATIONS CONTROL CENTRE (POCC) @ CERN
one year after launch to the ISS
Geneva, 16 July 2012. Fourteen months ago, on 16 May 2011, the space shuttle Endeavour took off for the last time from Cape Canaveral in Florida with six astronauts on board. Their mission (code-named STS-134) was to install the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), the dark matter and antimatter detector designed at CERN, on the International Space Station. Since then, AMS has sent over 18 billion cosmic ray events from space to the POCC on the CERN Prévessin site.
On Wednesday 25 July, the astronauts who installed AMS on the ISS and their spouses will visit the POCC for the first time. A press conference to mark the occasion and provide an update of the AMS searches in space 14 months after the start of data-taking will be held at the POCC at 10:30 CEST on 25 July, with the following programme:
09:30 Registration of the Press at CERN Main campus, reception, building 33
10:15 Shuttle departures from CERN reception to the POCC
10:30 Arrival of the members of the press and Photo opportunity in the POCC
10:35 Press Conference “AMS, one year in space”
Welcome by CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer
ESA Director for Science Alvaro Gimenez
AMS Spokesperson Sam Ting
STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly
Questions and answers with the above, STS 134 crew, spouses and AMS collaboration members
11:30 Tree planting by Astronaut Mark Kelly and his crew with commemorative plaque
11:35 Visit of the POCC for journalists with AMS scientists
Journalists wishing to attend should contact the CERN press office by 12:00 CEST on Monday 23 July at the latest, providing their nationality, date of birth and passport or identity card number. This document must also be presented before the visit. Please note that only the people who have registered will be able to go to the POCC.
AMS is studying fundamental issues about matter and the origin and structure of the Universe directly from space. Its main scientific target is the search for dark matter and antimatter, in a programme that is complementary to that of the Large Hadron Collider.
The following astronauts and spouses will be at CERN:
Mark Kelly, (NASA), US Navy Captain, a veteran of four space flights to the International Space Station and commander of expedition STS 134.
Gabrielle Giffords, wife of Shuttle commander Mark Kelly, has represented Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from 2007 to January 2012.
Greg Johnson (NASA), US Air force Colonel, twice pilot of Space Shuttle Endeavour, and his spouse Cari Michele Johnson.
Roberto Vittori (ESA), who had the delicate task of moving the AMS detector to the ISS with the Shuttle robotic arm on STS-134, and his spouse Valeria Nardi.
Michael Fincke (NASA), who has a record 381 days, 15 hours, and 11 minutes in orbit or space and participated in a movie for the Star Trek series, and his spouse Renita Saikia.
Drew Feustel (NASA), mostly known for repairing the Hubble Space telescope during the longest spacewalk, and his spouse Indira Devi Bhatnagar.
Gregory Chamitoff (NASA), the last space walker of the Space Shuttle programme, with 198 days in space, and his spouse Chantal Caviness.
Contact:
CERN Press Office, press.office@cern.ch
+41 22 767 34 32
+41 22 767 21 41
* CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel and Serbia are Associate Members in the pre-stage to Membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.
** The AMS detector components were produced by an international team of 60 institutes from 16 countries, with substantial contributions from CERN Member States (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland), and from China (Taipei) and the United States. The detector was assembled at CERN, with the assistance of the Laboratory’s technical services.
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