In its maiden flight to space, a commercially built 13-story rocket blasted off from a launch pad off the coast of Virginia in a test mission for NASA.

The Antares rocket, developed by Orbital Sciences Corp., roared into orbit after launching Sunday at 2 p.m. Pacific time from the newly built Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

PHOTOS: Orbital Sciences sends Antares to orbit

Although it was simply a test flight to reach orbit, the successful launch was another crucial step in NASAs plan to hand off space missions -- carrying cargo and crews -- to private industry now that the space shuttle fleet has been retired.

"Today's successful test marks another significant milestone in NASA's plan to rely on American companies to launch supplies and astronauts to the International Space Station, bringing this important work back to the United States where it belongs," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement.

NASA has invested about $288 million in seed money to help the Dulles, Va., company develop its technology, and has an additional $1.9 billion on the table with a contract for eight flights to transport cargo to the International Space Station in the coming years.

Antares launch was scheduled to take place Friday, but was delayed because of technical issues. High winds postponed the blastoff from Saturday to Sunday.

It was a picture-perfect launch from Wallops, with the Atlantic Ocean lapping against the surf in the near distance.

When the engines first ignited, the white rocket did not lift off from the pad for two full seconds because of its design. After 60 seconds, the vehicle was at more than 3 miles in altitude but still subsonic -- about 460 mph.

It wasnt until about nine minutes into the mission that the rocket was in orbit, at 155 miles in altitude and moving at 17,000 mph.

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Antares rocket blasts into orbit for first time in test for NASA