Pictures tell the story of how a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket and NASA's Terra spacecraft were joined together on the launch pad.

Now arriving Workers unload the Atlas booster stage from a U.S. Air Force C-5A cargo jet at Vandenberg Air Force Base in September 1997. The rocket from flown to California from Lockheed Martin in Denver.
The waiting room Atlas and the Centaur upper stage, seen covered in blue material, wait in a hangar at Vandenberg before being moved to the launch pad for stacking.
The power The three Rocketdyne MA-5A liquid-propellant engines power the Atlas booster stage during launch. This Atlas rocket to launch Terra has a tailnumber of AC-141.
Raising the rocket Atlas arrives at the newly refurbished Space Launch Complex-3 East at Vandenberg. Workers hoist the rocket into the launch mount to begin vehicle stacking in late September 1997.
Adding Centaur For the first time in history a Centaur upper stage is readied for launch from Vandenberg. The powerful twin-engine stage is hoisted atop the Atlas stage at SLC-3E.
Finishing touches Engineers conduct their final tests and checks on Terra in AstroTech's satellite processing facility at Vandenberg last month. Sitting next to Terra is the protective payload fairing.
Here comes the passenger Terra, already enclosed in the payload fairing, is raised up the tower at SLC-3E for mating with Centaur last month. The fairing is 3-feet longer than the standard Atlas nose cone because of Terra's size.