Northrop Grumman launches Cygnus cargo ship to space station

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket blasted off from Virgina's Eastern Shore on Tuesday, climbed away over the Atlantic Ocean and set off after the International Space Station to deliver 4 tons of crew supplies, equipment and research material.

The rocket's two Russian-built RD-181 first stage engines ignited with a rush of flame at 6:01 p.m. EDT, pushing the 139-foot-tall Antares away from pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport — MARS — at NASA's Wallops Island flight test facility. Climbing directly into the plane of the space station's orbit, the rocket's first stage powered its way through the thick lower atmosphere to an altitude just over 50 miles, before shutting its engines down and falling away.