A privately constructed rocket blasted off
Friday on a cargo run to the International Space Station (ISS),
lifting off without a hitch from a launch pad in Cape Canaveral,
Florida.
On its third flight to the ISS, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was
topped by a Dragon 9 capsule, holding some 1050 kilograms of supplies
and scientific experiments. It is due to dock with the station on
Saturday.
"SpaceX continues the US mission to resupply the International
Space Station from US soil," a NASA official said as the white rocket
lifted into the air atop its nine Merlin engines.
It will stay at the station until March 25, when it will carry
some 2,000 kilograms of cargo back to earth and splashdown in the
Pacific Ocean off the California coast.
The first demonstration flight took place in May, while an October
mission marked the first of 12 planned resupply missions to the
station under a 1.6-billion-dollar contract between SpaceX and NASA.
SpaceX is a private company established by Elon Musk, the founder
of electronic payments firm PayPal and electric car company Tesla.
SpaceX's rockets are meant to play a vital role in resupplying the
ISS following the retirement of the space shuttle fleet last year.
Another company, Orbital Science Corp, has a separate NASA contract
to begin deliveries to the space station later this year.
Cargo can also be delivered to the space station on Russian,
Japanese and European transports, but only SpaceX currently has the
capability to bring cargo back down.
