TIME Science

SpaceX Launches Rocket Into Orbit

NASA The SpaceX Flacon 9 rocket launches from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida

After a delay Monday due to a helium leak, the privately-owned company's spacecraft was launched Friday on a cargo supply mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon 9 rocket is carrying food, science experiments and other supplies

SpaceX launched its cargo mission Friday at 3:25 p.m. EDT afternoon to supply innovative equipment to the International Space Station from the Launch Complex at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The Dragon 9 rocket launched by the privately-owned company (headed by Tesla’s Elon Musk) is carrying food, science experiments and a set of legs for Robonaut 2, a humanoid NASA robot on the space station. Its Falcon spacecraft is carrying a total of 5,000 pounds of supplies.

PHOTOS: See SpaceX’s Biggest Milestones

SpaceX embarked on its first deep space mission with the launch of this Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket on Feb. 11, 2015 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., after two previous failed attempts. On May 29, 2014, SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk (not pictured) unveiled the company's first manned spacecraft, Dragon V2, at a press conference in Hawthorne, Calif., on May 29, 2014. A rocket carrying the SpaceX Dragon ship lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on April 18, 2014. Falcon 9 awaits its upcoming launch in SpaceX's hangar with landing legs attached on March 12, 2014. SpaceX's Falcon 9 launches with Thailand’s Thaicom 6 satellite on Jan. 6, 2014 from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex-40 in Cape Canaveral, Fla. SpaceX's Falcon 9 and SES 8 launch from SpaceX's launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Nov. 28, 2013. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rolls out of the hangar for SES 8 on Nov. 28, 2013. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying a small science satellite for Canada is launched from a newly refurbished launch pad in Vandenberg Air Force Station in California, on Sept. 29, 2013. SpaceX's reusable rocket prototype, Grasshopper, completes a 325 meter hop on June 14, 2013 before smoothly landing back on the pad. SpaceX's fairing on May 27, 2013. SpaceX's Dragon on the recovery boat on April 13, 2013. SpaceX's Dragon is grappled by the International Space Station on April 13, 2013. SpaceX's F9 rocket leaves the hangar at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 8, 2013. Nine Merlin engines for the inaugural Falcon 9 flight, ready for integration onto the thrust structure, on March 8, 2013. From left: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk view the historic Dragon capsule SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule floats in the Pacific Ocean off of Baja California on May 31, 2012. SpaceX's Dragon commercial cargo craft is berthed to the International Space Station on May 25, 2012. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft blasts off from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on May 22, 2012. The SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on May 22, 2012. SpaceX'S Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Dec. 8, 2010. From left: U.S. President Barack Obama and Head of SpaceX Elon Musk tour Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 15, 2010. On April 22, 2008, Musk's company landed NASA's launch services contract for Falcon 1 and 9 rockets. Here, the SpaceX factory in Los Angeles is shown on Nov. 21, 2008.
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