Video: Take a virtual ride on the Atlas 5 launch pad emergency ziplines

Rising from the ground and into the launch pad gantry, a clandestine U.S. national security payload was fitted atop its Atlas 5 booster rocket in California today for the ride into space on March 1.

Delivering two-and-a-half million pounds of ground-shaking thrust at takeoff, more than any rocket flying from Cape Canaveral these days, the mighty vehicle was rolled from its assembly building to the launch pad Monday for Wednesday’s early morning blastoff.

A final set of photos shows Friday’s Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral with the SES 9 communications satellite.