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Orbital rocket blasts off on space station cargo run

The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, launches from Pad-0A, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, October 17, 2016. Bill Ingalls/NASA/Handout via REUTERS

An unmanned Antares rocket owned by Orbital ATK Inc blasted off from Virginia on Monday with a cargo ship for the International Space Station, marking the booster's return to flight two years after a previous version exploded at liftoff.

The 14-story-tall rocket, powered by a pair of new Russian-made engines, lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia, at 7:45 p.m. EDT (2340 GMT), a NASA TV broadcast showed. Launch was delayed five minutes to give the team extra time to review their checklists, Orbital President Frank Culbertson told reporters.

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