A Falcon rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule lifted clear of Cape Canaveral in Florida at 20:35 (00:35 GMT).
The robotic Dragon ship will deliver 400kg of food, clothing, experiments and spares to the orbiting platform's six astronauts.
It is the maiden flight in a sequence of 12 missions that California's SpaceX company is performing for Nasa.
The US space agency is looking to the private sector to assume routine transport duties to and from low-Earth orbit.
It has given SpaceX a $1.6bn contract to keep the ISS stocked up with essentials, restoring a re-supply capability that the US lost when it retired the shuttles last year.
The terms of the contract kicked in following a successful test of Dragon's systems in May.
That demonstration saw the capsule berth with the ISS - the first commercially designed and built vehicle to do so - and then return safely to Earth.
Nasa has a second company it hopes also can soon begin operational cargo deliveries to the station.
The Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) will shortly test its new Antares rocket before undertaking its own ISS demonstration with a robotic vessel called Cygnus.
If that mission - tipped to take place next year - goes well then it will trigger a $1.9bn contract for Orbital.
Nasa wants eventually to put astronaut transport in the hands of the private sector, too.
SpaceX's is eyeing that business as well, and is developing the critical life-support and safety systems that would turn Dragon into a human-rated vehicle. The company says it is just a few years away from being able to provide an astronaut "taxi" service.
The Dragon launched on Sunday is scheduled to arrive at the space station on Wednesday.
It will follow the routine established in May of parking itself just below the platform so that it can be grabbed by a robotic arm and pulled into a berthing port.
The vessel is expected to return to Earth at the end of the month.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
No comments:
Post a Comment