SpaceX launches Northrop Grumman space station cargo ship into orbit | Space

Running a day late due to weather, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship loaded with more than four tons of supplies, spare parts, fresh food and science gear blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Sunday, kicking off a two-day rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Despite an initially dismal 90% “no-go” forecast for Sunday, weather along Florida’s Space Coast remained within safety limits and the workhorse Falcon 9, using a first stage making its tenth flight, roared to life at 11:02 a.m. EDT and quickly climbed away from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Thick clouds and electrical activity derailed a Saturday launch try, but that had no impact on the company’s operations at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California where another Falcon 9 boosted 23 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit early Sunday. That set the stage for a second attempt to get the Cygnus off the ground from the east coast seven-and-a-half hours later.

The Florida…