Photos: Atlas 5 on the pad at sundown

A tropical storm barreling towards the Florida peninsula caused United Launch Alliance (ULA) to stand down from an Atlas 5 launch planned for Tuesday on a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.

The 100th rocket in America’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, the current fleet of boosters used by the nation to get its critical assets into space, was rolled to the pad Friday morning for a vital mission on Saturday.

United Launch Alliance teams at Cape Canaveral hoisted a Centaur upper stage on top of an Atlas 5 rocket Friday at launch pad 41, completing the initial build-up of the launch vehicle slated to carry Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule into space in December on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station.