A NASA delivery company has launched a resupply mission to the International Space Station nearly two years after its previous rocket exploded during liftoff.
It was the first flight of Orbital ATK's unmanned Antares rocket since the blast on October 28, 2014, which wrecked the pad and destroyed everything on the ISS supply run.
For the long-awaited comeback, the pad underwent a $US15 million ($A20 million) restoration, and the Antares got new Russian engines to replace the vintage ones from a half-century earlier.
As the Antares streaked through the sky from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Monday night, it appeared as though all the work had paid off.
Launch controllers applauded when the supply ship reached orbit and victory was declared.
The launch provided a show for sky gazers along much of the east coast from Charleston, South Carolina, to Boston.
Getting a lift from the Antares was Orbital ATK's Cygnus capsule, loaded with more than two tonnes of food, equipment and research, including some experiments to study flames in space and the robotic toy ball, Sphero, part of an educational effort.
The Cygnus - named after the swan constellation - will have to hang around in orbit until Sunday before delivering the goods.
That is because three astronauts are awaiting launch from Kazakhstan on Wednesday, which would get them to the space station on Friday.
NASA wants the new crew to settle in before the Cygnus pulls up.
This will be the sixth Cygnus to arrive at the orbiting outpost since 2013.
While the Antares was being redesigned, Orbital ATK made good on two deliveries using another company's rockets flying from Cape Canaveral.
NASA's other commercial shipper, SpaceX, has made nine station deliveries since 2012, but is grounded, pending an investigation into September's launch pad explosion at Cape Canaveral.
Given the riskiness of space flight, Orbital ATK officials expressed nervousness before the launch, but said they had full confidence in the final product.
NASA has been relying on Orbital ATK and SpaceX to keep the space station stocked since its shuttles retired in 2011.
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