Photos: Atlas 5 rocket aims for International Space Station

On the eve of its scheduled flight for U.S. national security interests, the United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket stands quietly inside the protective gantry at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37 pad.

The addition of a U.S. Air Force communications satellite has capped the assembly of a 218-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket at Cape Canaveral set for liftoff the evening of March 13.

A Russian cosmonaut and his NASA co-pilot, five months after riding out a dramatic launch abort last October, finally made it into orbit Thursday and, along with a NASA astronaut making her first flight, docked with the International Space Station six hours later to boost the lab’s crew back to six.