NASA successfully sent 2.5 tons of supplies to the International Space Station in a commercial cargo ship on Friday afternoon.
American company SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket over Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 3:25 p.m. ET, NBC News reported.
The rocket sent Dragon, the robotic capsule holding around 5,000 pounds worth of supplies, into orbit and on its way to the ISS, where it should arrive on Sunday,
The mission was finally completed after more than a month of delays as the trip was set back by contaminations concerns, a helium leak and other issues. On Friday, stormy weather posed a problem but ultimately didn't stop the launch.
Choppy seas were nearly too much for Falcon 9's re-entry burn, but the rocket was able to land successfully.
"Data upload from tracking plane shows landing in Atlantic was good!" SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted. "Several boats enroute through heavy seas. Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water. Stopped when booster went horizontal."
Musk, who also heads electric carmaker Tesla Motors, uses rocket recovery and reuse to save money on spaceflight. Someday, SpaceX plans to transport people to Mars as colonists.
The Dragon marks the third cargo delivery under SpaceX's $1.6 contract with NASA to complete 12 flights.
SpaceX additionally tested a landing system on Friday to allow future rockets to return to a landing pad autonomously, NBC News reported.
The cargo ship holds food for the astronauts living on the ISS as well as a new spacesuit and extra replacement parts for spacesuits. The Dragon is also bringing needed material to repair a backup computer that failed last Friday.
The astronauts on the ISS await Dragon's arrival and plan to conduct a spacewalk on Wednesday. One scheduled repair is to fix the computer.
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