A new rocket built as a commercial venture by Orbital Sciences Corp. blasted off from the Virginia coast and streaked into space Sunday, chalking up a picture-perfect maiden flight that sets the stage for space station cargo delivery missions starting later this year. "It's certainly was an amazing achievement for Orbital today, a great day for NASA, and another historic day for commercial spaceflight in America," said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of the space agency's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program. The flight today was just beautiful, and it looks like all the objectives that we established for the flight today were 100 percent met. After a smooth countdown, the 133-foot-tall Antares rocket roared to life with a rush of flaming exhaust at 5 p.m. Two seconds later, after final engine health checks, the booster climbed away from launch pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport adjacent to NASA's Wallops Island Flight Center. Carrying an 8,300-pound instrumented mockup of the Cygnus cargo carrier Orbital plans to use for space station resupply missions, the Antares climbed straight up from its seaside launch pad and then arced away to the southeast, visible from eastern North Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, New York and beyond, clouds permitting. With its first-stage thrust barely exceeding the weight of the rocket, space enthusiasts had more time than usual to enjoy the view. Two minutes later, the dummy payload was released from the Antares second stage to complete the test flight's primary objective. "All the events occurred within a second or so of when we expected them," said Frank Culbertson, a former shuttle commander who is now an Orbital vice president. We didn't really see any major anomalies at all, so we're very happy with the sequence of events. "We will obviously go in and analyze it much more carefully in the coming days and replay everything to make sure we get maximum information from the data," he added. But at first glance, it all looks really good. Space station commander Chris Hadfield congratulated the launch team, telling flight controllers in Houston "that's super, that's great news, good for them. Congratulations to all concerned. That bodes well for all of our futures. Super! Assuming analysis of telemetry from the rocket confirms good performance, Orbital should be clear to proceed with a so-called "demonstration" flight in June or July, this one using a Cygnus cargo capsule that will carry about a ton of equipment and supplies to the space station. Addressing the Orbital Sciences launch team in the control room shortly after the mission ended, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said the flight was "absolutely incredible." "I cannot say enough about the Orbital team, this was your mission," he said. And you all demonstrated you could do it. ... Today is an incredibly historic day. John Holdren, White House science advisor, said in a statement the successful test flight "demonstrates an additional private space-launch capability for the United States and lays the groundwork for the first Antares cargo mission to the International Space Station later this year." "I congratulate Orbital Sciences and the NASA teams at Wallops, and look forward to more groundbreaking missions in the months and years ahead," he added. The Antares test flight marked the first time the modified Russian powerplants were used to help boost a payload to orbit. "The two AJ26 engines that launched today's flight were originally slated to power the N-1 rocket on a lunar mission in the early 1970s," Pete Cova, Aerojet executive director, said in a statement. Today's mission marks the first time these engines are reaching space, which is a significant milestone for both the U.S. and Russian companies involved.