GUWAHATI, May 21 � NASA astronaut Edward Michael Fincke, popularly known as Mike Fincke and who is affectionately called Mike Mama by the students of Assam, has again reached the International Space Station (ISS) as one of the crew members of the NASA space shuttle Endeavour. The space shuttle was launched successfully from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 16. This mission of the Endeavour is named � STS-134.
Mike is on his third sojourn to the ISS. He has so far spent a year�s time in the space on board the ISS, getting there twice and returning subsequently traveling by Russian rockets. But this time, the Endeavour flight will be his first on the space shuttle.
�It was an unbelievable, unforgettable experience that we will preserve for the rest of our lives. We all had tears in our eyes when it really took off with the booming sound shaking the ground around us. We were so proud and thankful to God for such a swift lift- off with one of our own family members in that precious shuttle,� said Probha Saikia, mother-in-law of Mike, who along with her husband Rupesh Saikia and Mike�s wife Renita Saikia and their three children were present at the Florida Space Center during the launch.
The launch was originally scheduled on April 29 last. But it was postponed because of a problem associated with the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU)-1 heaters of the space shuttle. President Barack Obama and the First Lady were present at the launch site on April 29 to witness the launch. Later the President met all the crew members of STS-134.
The space shuttle launched on May 16 took about eight minutes to reach its orbit and docked with the ISS on May18, said Probha Saikia.
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) was installed successfully on May 19 on the outside of the ISS�s right side � on the starboard side of the station�s truss. With a price tag of $2 billion, AMS is the most expensive piece of equipment a space shuttle has ever carried.
The spectrometer is designed to capture space particles like anti-matter and dark matter, about which scientists know little. It could lead to a better understanding of the origin and evolution of the universe. Armed with that information, hundreds of scientists from 16 countries are hoping to determine what composes the universe and how it began, as the AMS searches for clues on the origin of dark matter and the existence of anti-matter and other unusual matters. AMS also could provide information about pulsars, blazers, gamma ray bursts and any number of other cosmic phenomena, said a NASA publication.
