SpaceX Dragon Cargo Mission Lifts Off for the International Space Station Early Sunday

SpaceX's fourth contracted International Space Station re-supply mission sped toward a rendezvous with the orbiting science laboratory, following the successful lift off of a Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon cargo capsule from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., early Sunday

A timely rendezvous with the ISS would set up a capture of the Dragon spacecraft, filled with 5,000 pounds of supplies, science experiments, and technology demonstrations, using the station's Canadian robot arm on Tuesday at  7:04 a.m., EDT.

European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman have trained to carry out the grapple by issuing commands to the 58-foot-long robot arm from the station's cupola observation deck.

The Falcon 9 lifted off on Sunday at 1:52 a.m., EDT, under mostly clear skies. The two stage rocket dropped Dragon into a preliminary 224 by 124 statute mile orbit 10 minutes later, with a successful deployment of the solar arrays following at 2:06 a.m., EDT.

SpaceX CRS-4 Dragon lifts off Sunday at 1:52 a.m., EDT. NASA TV

Efforts to launch the latest of the company's resupply flights early Saturday were scrubbed by low clouds and rain associated with a low pressure trough that settled across the region late last week. The system retreated to the northeast following the scrub.

Mostly clear skies prevail for SpaceX CRS-4 coundown and launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., early Sunday. NASA TV

Once in the grasp of the station's robot arm, the Dragon CRS-4 spacecraft will be maneuvered to a berthing port on the station's U. S. segment Harmony module for a month-long stay.

Much of the mission's cargo is research gear, including an animal enclosure module populated by 20 mice, subjects in experiments focused on the response of mammalian bones and muscle to weightlessness. New insights could be used to ensure astronauts are physically fit as they pursue future missions of deep space exploration.

Other items include NASA space suit batteries needed to resume U.S. maintenance spacewalks that were suspended in mid-2013 after cooling system water leaked into the helmet of the U. S. space suit worn by ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano. Battery problems delayed plans to resume scheduled  excursions in August.

The SpaceX CRS-4 mission is also delivering RapidScat, an external radar that will be installed on ESA's Columbus module to measure ocean surface wind speeds and direction to improve the forecasting of tropical storms.

NASA engineers are hopeful the delivery of a new 3-D the printer can begin to demonstrate capabilities for the manufacture of spare parts from plastic feed stocks that would otherwise have to be produced on the ground and launched aboard costly cargo missions.

SpaceX signed a 12 flight, $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services agreement with NASA's ISS program in late 2008.