Photos: Atlas 5 launches SBIRS GEO Flight 3

At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, workers have finished the pre-launch assembly and fueling of OSIRIS-REx for the asteroid sample return spacecraft for liftoff Sept. 8.

This collection of photographs and videos shows the Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite No. 9 being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 nose cone and hoisted atop the rocket for launch March 17 at 7:44 p.m. EDT (2344 GMT).

A Sunday afternoon rocket launch is planned for Cape Canaveral this weekend, and beachgoers should have good weather conditions to watch the commercial Atlas 5 rocket power skyward with an Internet access satellite.