SpaceX cargo mission blasts off to space station

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Friday and sped through a cloud-covered sky on its way to deliver supplies to the International Space Station for NASA.

The Hawthorne-based rocket manufacturer launched the cargo mission despite a computer glitch aboard the space station and bad weather that threatened to push the liftoff back a day.

Promptly at 12:25 p.m. PDT, the rocket fired up its nine engines and launched into orbit, carrying a capsule packed with 5,000 pounds of supplies for the two American, one Japanese and three Russian astronauts aboard the space station.

The capsule, named Dragon, is scheduled to rendezvous with the space station on Sunday.

In a post-launch news conference, SpaceX founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk said the flight was "perfect as far as we could tell."

"This is a happy day," he said. "I'm just glad we were able to do the job we were contracted for, at least thus far."

The blastoff from Space Launch Complex 40 occurred despite the failure of one of the space station's backup computers, which assists a space capsule as it docks with the station.

The launch also marked the first time that SpaceX attempted to recover the first stage of its rocket after separation. During the news conference, Musk said the effort to retrieve the part so far appeared unsuccessful and he "wouldn't give high odds that the rocket was able to splash down successfully" because of 25-foot waves and rough sea conditions.

More than 55,000 viewers tuned in to an online live stream hosted on SpaceX's website. As plumes of smoke began rising from the rocket seconds before liftoff, the chat room exploded with activity as viewers virtually cheered on the launch.

NASA kept its Twitter followers updated with images from the rocket's first minutes in flight, including the view from a SpaceX rocket camera with Earth in the background and a view of the Dragon spacecraft in orbit as it separated from the Falcon 9.

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SpaceX cargo mission blasts off to space station