Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

The Atlas 5 rocket emerges from the Vertical Integration Facility for rollout to Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral in preparation to launch GPS 2F-12 satellite on Friday at 8:38 a.m. EST.

United Launch Alliance teams mounted a top secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on top of an Atlas 5 rocket Monday at Cape Canaveral in preparation for a liftoff scheduled just after sunset Nov. 3.

These photos were taken on Wednesday, Dec. 2, approximately 24 hours before the scheduled liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 with Orbital ATK’s commercial Cygnus cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.