CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A rocket built by Space Exploration Technologies blasted off on Friday on supply run to the International Space Station, but a thruster problem with the cargo ship threatened to derail the mission.

The 157-foot (48-meter) tall Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo ship lifted off at 10:10 a.m. EST from the company's leased launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, just south of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"It appears that although it achieved Earth orbit, Dragon is experiencing some kind of problem right now," John Insprucker, a Falcon 9 manager with Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX as the company is known, said during a webcast after the capsule's release into orbit.

The Dragon capsule, which carries more than 2,300 pounds (1,043 kg) of science equipment, spare parts, food and supplies, is scheduled to reach the station Saturday morning.

Engineers, however, were troubleshooting a problem with three of the capsule's four thruster pods, which are needed to maneuver in orbit and position the ship's solar arrays to face the sun.

"Holding on solar array deployment until at least two thruster pods are active," company founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk posted on Twitter.

The arrays were later deployed even though three of the four thruster pods were not operational, said SpaceX spokeswoman Christine Ra.

The glitch occurred about 11 minutes after liftoff, when the capsule's solar wings were to unfurl. SpaceX's onboard cameras did not show that happening.

The cargo run is the second of 12 missions for privately owned SpaceX under a $1.6 billion NASA contract.

Following a successful test flight to the space station in May 2012, SpaceX conducted its first supply run to the orbital outpost in October. During launch of that mission, one of the Falcon's nine engines shut down early, but the other motors compensated for the power shortfall.

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SpaceX capsule hits glitch after launch for space station