Cygnus Spacecraft to transport over 8K pounds of cargo, including pizza and apples, to International Space Station

SALISBURY, Md.  — In an impressive plume of smoke and burning jet fuel, NASA's Antrares Rocket successfully lifted off at approximately 6:01 p.m. from Virginia's Wallops Flight Facility on Tuesday.

The Cygnus Spacecraft will be docked with the International Space Station's Unity Module. The three-month docking also will transport 8,200 pounds of science and research crew supplies for the Expedition-65 crew, consisting of seven members. 

Among the cargo are the tools needed to conduct cutting-edge medical, logistical and technological research. The shipment also includes fresh apples, tomatoes and kiwi, along with a pizza kit and cheese smorgasbord for the seven-station astronauts.

Also flying: a mounting bracket for new solar wings launching to the orbiting lab next year; a material simulating moon dust and dirt that will be used to create items from the space station’s 3D printer; slime mold for a French educational experiment called Blob; an infrared-detecting device meant as a prototype for future tracking satellites.

Life on the Red Planet?:NASA is looking for 4 people to live inside their 3D-printed Mars module for a year

Out of this world:Remastered Apollo 15 photos reveal new details, just in time for mission's 50th anniversary

This marks Northrop Grumman’s 16th Commercial Resupply mission to the space station, and its heaviest payload so far. It should reach the International Space Station on Thursday.

“Aloha to the S.S. Ellison Onizuka,” Northrop Grumman said via Launch Control minutes before liftoff. The capsule was named for Hawaii’s Onizuka, the first Asian American in space who died in the 1986 Challenger launch disaster.

The space station is currently home to three Americans, one French, two Russians, and one Japanese; several of the astronauts are a part of Space-X Crew-2, the second SpaceX operational mission in the Commercial Crew Program. It will spend about six months in Space before flying back to Earth in October. 

NASA's next launch will occur Sept. 16, when the organization will launch a satellite to photograph Earth's surface. The space station's next resupply will launch sometime in the fall. 

The space station is currently home to three Americans, two Russians, one French and one Japanese.

Contributing: Elinor Aspegren, USA TODAY; Associated Press