Photos: News media images of Atlas 5 launch

The European-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrived in Florida late Friday after a trans-Atlantic journey from a test center in Germany, ready to begin preparations for a liftoff from Cape Canaveral in February aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

The Atlas 5 rocket emerges from the Vertical Integration Facility for rollout to Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral in preparation to launch Morelos 3 on Friday at 6:08 a.m. EDT.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket that will boost NASA’s latest communications relay satellite into space is targeting an Aug. 20 liftoff at 7:56 a.m. EDT (1156 GMT).