Washington - XINHUA
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Private U.S. firm SpaceX launched its fourth International Space Station cargo mission Sunday morning, delivering 3D Printer, mice and other supplies to the orbiting laboratory.
The California-based company's unmanned Dragon spacecraft lifted off at 1:52 a.m. EDT (0552 GMT) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a live NASA Television broadcast showed.
"The Falcon 9 and Dragon have left the launch pad and are climbing skyward!" U.S. space agency NASA said in its launch blog.
These four "operational cargo missions have made the spacecraft a regular visitor to the orbiting laboratory," it said.
The Dragon spacecraft carried 2.5 tons of supplies, science experiments, and technology demonstrations, including critical materials to support 255 science and research investigations.