Live coverage: Cygnus rendezvous and arrival journal and webcast

A break in thunderstorms streaming across Central Florida allowed a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule to blast off Thursday from Cape Canaveral in pursuit of the International Space Station with a new docking mechanism, a spacesuit and 40 mice acting as high-flying research specimens.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set to loft the fifth batch of Iridium Next mobile communications satellites stands vertical on Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Orbital ATK’s bid to join the U.S. military’s roster of rockets to haul the most critical national security satellites into orbit faces stiff competition from entrenched launch providers and billionaire entrepreneurs, but the company is confident its Next Generation Launch system will win one of three funding agreements the Air Force is expected to award this summer.