Liftoff of SpaceX Resupply Mission to the International Space Station

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the Dragon resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 4:47 a.m. EST on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015. The commercial resupply mission will deliver 3,700 pounds of scientific experiments, technology demonstrations and supplies, including critical materials to support 256 science and research investigations on the space station.

The mission is the company’s fifth official cargo delivery flight to the station through NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. Dragon’s cargo will support more than 250 experiments that will be conducted by the station’s Expeditions 42 and 43 crews.

“We are delighted to kick off 2015 with our first commercial cargo launch of the year,”

said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

“Thanks to our private sector partners, we’ve returned space station resupply launches to U.S. soil and are poised to do the same with the transport of our astronauts in the very near future. Today’s launch not only resupplies the station, but also delivers important science experiments and increases the station’s unique capabilities as a platform for Earth science with delivery of the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System, or CATS instrument. I congratulate the SpaceX and NASA teams who have made today’s success possible. We look forward to extending our efforts in commercial space to include commercial crew by 2017 and to more significant milestones this year on our journey to Mars.”

More: NASA Cargo Launches to Space Station Aboard SpaceX Resupply Mission

Image Credit: NASA/Jim Grossman

Video: CRS-5 Launch