SpaceX to launch more supplies

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A private company is headed back to the International Space Station.

On Sunday, SpaceX will attempt to launch another Dragon capsule full of food, clothes and science experiments for the astronauts at the space station. The company hopes to repeat the success of its test flight in May.

Rainy weather could keep the company’s Falcon rocket grounded. Forecasters said Thursday there’s a 60 percent chance of favorable conditions for the 8:35 p.m. EDT launch from Cape Canaveral.

This is the California company’s first official launch under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. The contract calls for 12 deliveries. The Dragon will spend more than three weeks at the space station before being cut loose at the end of October with a full load of science experiments and old equipment. It will parachute into the Pacific.

NASA is counting on private business to help keep the space station stocked, now that the shuttles are retired. The governments of Russia, Japan and Europe also provide periodic supply runs.

A second company, Orbital Sciences Corp., hopes to launch its Antares rocket with a mockup capsule by the end of this year. The first test flight to the space station by Orbital Sciences is targeted for early 2013.

SpaceX – or Space Exploration Technologies Corp. – is run by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk. He is working to modify the Dragon capsule to carry astronauts back and forth to the space station within three to five years.