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Historic Flight Will Carry One Thousand Pounds Of Food, Clothes, Supplies To Space

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Earlier this year, SpaceX became the first private company to successfully dock a vessel with the International Space Station. That cargo delivery was just a test run and the Dragon capsule is now ready for its first official trip into space. 

The spacecraft, on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, is scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 8:34 p.m. EDT.  

The capsule will carry around 1,000 pounds of supplies to the ISS before returning to Earth at the end of October loaded with scientific equipment.

This is the first of 12 unmanned flights under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.  

Since the space agency retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011, American astronauts have relied on Russian spacecraft to reach the International Space Station. But this was very expensive. So NASA turned to the private sector. 

The California-based company is run by Elon Musk.  

You can watch the launch live via NASA TV

SEE ALSO: Go Inside The Jumbo Jet That Carries 172,000 Pound Space Shuttles > 

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