Video: NROL-37 payload and Delta 4-Heavy rocket prepped for launch

United Launch Alliance is giving members of the public a behind-the-scenes look during one of its Atlas 5 rocket flights from Cape Canaveral.

NASA’s Perseverance rover will depart Cape Canaveral Thursday on a $2.7 billion mission to Mars, carrying with it the first interplanetary aircraft, sophisticated instruments to search for signs of ancient life, and drill to core samples for eventual return to Earth.

This collection of photographs shows the Air Force’s Global Positioning System 2F-11 navigation satellite being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 nose cone and hoisted atop the rocket for flight.