Antares Rocket Launch

An unmanned Orbital Sciences Corp Antares rocket blasted off from a seaside launch pad in Virginia on Sunday, sending a Cygnus cargo ship on its way to the International Space Station, a NASA Television broadcast showed. Text: Reuters

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In Pic: The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket launches from Pad-0A with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia, July 13, 2014.?

The 133-foot-tall (41-meter-tall) rocket lifted off from a commercially operated launch pad at NASA¡¯s Wallops Island Flight Facility on the Virginia coast.

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In Pic:?A security hlicopter flies by the Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket before launch, Sunday, July 13, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Perched on top of the rocket was a Cygnus spacecraft, built by Orbital Sciences in partnership with Italy¡¯s Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture of Thales SA and Finmeccanica SpA.

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In Pic: The full Moon sets in the fog behind the Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket with a Cygnus spacecraft onboard at the launch pad on Saturday, July 12, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Va.

The freighter was loaded with more than 3,660 pounds (1,660 kg) of food, science equipment and supplies for the space station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 264 miles (425 km) above Earth. The capsule was slated to reach the orbital outpost on Wednesday.

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In Pic: The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket with a Cygnus spacecraft onboard sits at the launch pad on Saturday, July 12, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Va.

The mission is the second of eight station cargo runs by Orbital Sciences under a $1.9 billion contract with NASA.

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In Pic:?The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket with a Cygnus spacecraft onboard sits at the launch pad on Saturday, July 12, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Va.

Orbital Sciences named the Cygnus ship launched on Sunday the SS Janice Voss, a tribute to Voss, a five-time shuttle astronaut and former Orbital Sciences engineer who died of breast cancer in 2012.

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In Pic: An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket with a Cygnus spacecraft onboard is raised on a launch pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. on Thursday, July 10, 2014.

The capsule is expected to remain berthed at the space station for about a month. Once unloaded, it will be filled with garbage and items no longer needed by the station crew and redirected into the atmosphere for incineration.

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In Pic:?The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is rolled out of the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) to make the approximately half-mile journey to launch Pad-0A, Thursday, July 10, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va.