The cosmic ray particle physics detector was carried to the International Space Station on the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour and installed under NASA direction.

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Some of the winners, like Edward Witten, one of the most accomplished living theorists, and Alan Guth, the father of the theory of cosmic inflation, are well-known beyond the world of physics.

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In its first six months of operation on the station, AMS had accumulated more data on charged cosmic rays than had been previously collected in the history of human physics studies.

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