Photos: Atlas 5 on the pad awaiting liftoff on NROL-52

United Launch Alliance will launch the USSF-106 mission as its first flight for the U.S. Space Force using a Vulcan rocket. The vehicle will carry two satellite missions onboard.

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.

This is the launch timeline to be followed by the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral with the GOES-S weather satellite. Launch is scheduled for Thursday during a two-hour window opening at 5:02 p.m. EST (2202 GMT).