The Antares carrier rocket, fitted with Russian first-degree engines RD-181, started from the spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, BBC reports.

Antares, designed by Orbital Sciences Corporation, successfully put into orbit the cargo spaceship Cygnus. It should deliver 2.3 tons of cargo to ISS, including water, food, expendables and scientific equipment.

In addition, Cygnus will bring to the station the equipment for boosting miniature satellites for weather observation on the Earth.

Antares should have started from the spaceport at Wallops Island at 03:03 MST. However, seven hours before the start, the company, owning the rocket, postponed the launch for 24 hours, because the cable of aboveground equipment did not work properly during prelaunch checks.

The first launch after failure of 2014.

The launch of a new modification of the carrier rocket Antares 230 was repeatedly postponed from May. The US specialists were insured after the incident, which happened in October 2014.

Then, the fifth launch of Antares, which should have delivered to the International Space Station the Cygnus cargo spaceship, was a failure. Less than in a minute after the start the rocket exploded. The specialists stated that some defects in the first stage of rocket, fitted with modification of Soviet engines NK-33, became the reason for this incident. The engines, used in this rocket, were produced in 1970s.

For new Antares, which was launched today, US specialists selected RD-181 of Moscow-based “Energomash”. Ukrainian design bureaus “Yuzhnoe” and “Yuzhmash” manufacture fuel tanks, high-pressure tanks, valves, sensors, fuel feed and refueling systems for Antares.