(CNN) -- Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. sent up its first entry into the space freight business Wednesday with the launch of a new unmanned cargo carrier to the International Space Station.
It's the first flight for the company's Cygnus spacecraft and the second for its Antares booster rocket. Liftoff was at 10:58 a.m. Tuesday at NASA's launch facility at Wallops Island, Virginia, about 90 miles north of Norfolk.
About 10 minutes after launch, a cheer went up in the company's flight control room in Dulles, Virginia, outside Washington, when the craft separated from the second stage of the booster. Its solar arrays deployed successfully about 15 minutes later.
Cygnus is slated to perform three days of tests before being cleared to approach the ISS, NASA said. The craft isn't scheduled to rendezvous with the space station until Sunday.
Unlike the SpaceX Dragon capsule, which is designed to be reused and eventually carry passengers, the can-shaped, 17-foot Cygnus is a one-shot craft that will burn up on re-entry after its flight to the space station. It carried about 1,500 pounds of cargo into orbit on Tuesday, but is capable of carrying up to 4,400 pounds (2,000 kilos), the company says.
NASA hired Orbital and SpaceX to start making cargo runs to the space station after retiring its fleet of space shuttles and turning much of its focus toward exploring deep into the solar system. Orbital has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to make eight flights to the space station under the space agency's commercial supply program.
SpaceX has so far made two of its 12 scheduled flights to the ISS under a $1.6 billion contract.