Skywatchers in the eastern United States have an opportunity to spot the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on an International Space Station resupply flight on Sunday night, weather permitting.

Space news from NBCNews.com

The first-ever year-long mission to the International Space Station will launch in 2015 and feature an American-Russian crew, NASA revealed Friday.

The night launch will mark the fourth flight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, a privately built booster that has made three successful flights since 2010. The rocket will be carrying the gumdrop-shaped Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. In May the Dragon capsule became the first U.S. spacecraft to reach the space station since NASA's last space shuttle flight departed in July 2011.

To reach the space station, the Falcon 9 rocket must be launched when Earth's rotation carries the launch pad into the plane of the station's orbit. That will happen on Sunday at 8:35 p.m. EDT at Launch Complex 40, SpaceX's launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

As has been the case with space shuttle launches to the space station, Sunday's liftoff will bring the Falcon 9 rocket's path nearly parallel to the U.S. East Coast. It is expected that the glow created by the rocket's Merlin 1C liquid propellant rocket engines should be visible in varying degrees along much of the Eastern seaboard.

[ SpaceX's Dragon Poised to Sunday Launch (Photos) ]

The Falcon 9 rocket launches into orbit using two stages. The first stage utilizes nine Merlin 1C engines which will burn for three minutes, then shuts down. Five seconds later the first and second stages will separate.

Seven seconds later the second stage, which utilizes just one engine will be fired and will burn for six minutes and two seconds. The Dragon space capsule will then separate from the second stage and head into orbit.

So while the first stage should create a fairly conspicuous bright light in the sky, the second stage will likely be considerably dimmer.

Original post:

SpaceX rocket launch visible from US East Coast tonight