A commercial spacecraft operated by US space company Orbital Sciences has departed for the International Space Station. It is flying the first of its eight cargo resupply missions to the station.

The unmanned Cygnus spacecraft was launched at just after 1 pm local time from the US space agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. The spacecraft is carrying over 1,000 kilograms of supplies to the ISS. The cargo includes food, spare parts and science experiments. If all goes well, the spacecraft is expected to arrive at the ISS early Sunday. The launch of Cygnus has been delayed three times.

First due to problems with a cooling system on the ISS last December and then on Tuesday due to cold weather. And on Wednesday it was cancelled again because of what NASA called an "unusually high level of space radiation" caused by a large solar flare.