Seven satellites carrying 16 experiments for the U.S. military, NASA and universities will ride a Minotaur 4 rocket into orbit. Liftoff from the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska is scheduled for Nov. 19 at 8:24 p.m. Eastern time (4:24 p.m. Alaska time). These photos chronicle processing of the satellites at Kodiak.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force/Lou Hernandez

Technicians install acoustic insulation inside the Minotaur rocket's payload fairing.
 

Workers prepare to lift NASA's FASTSAT technology demonstration spacecraft onto the payload deck.
 

Two FASTRAC satellites from the University of Texas are lowered into place.
 

The U.S. Air Force STPSat 2 spacecraft is guided toward its attach point on the Minotaur payload adapter.
 

The FalconSat 5 payload from the U.S. Air Force Academy is added to the spacecraft stack. A portion of the Minotaur's nose cone is visible on the right side of the image.
 

The four largest satellites on the STP-S26 mission are bolted to the payload dispenser. STPSat 2, FASTRAC, FalconSat 5, and FASTSAT are visible in this image.
 

The four largest satellites on the STP-S26 mission are bolted to the payload dispenser. STPSat 2, FASTRAC, FalconSat 5, and FASTSAT are visible in this image.
 

Engineers from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo unpack the RAX CubeSat, an NSF-sponsored spacecraft built in collaboration by the University of Michigan and SRI International.
 

Engineers unpack the O/OREOS CubeSat, a NASA Ames Research Center payload that will study the response of organic specimens to the space environment.