An exhaust cloud builds around the Falcon 9 rocket on Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

An exhaust cloud builds around the Falcon 9 rocket on Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as the SpaceX-3 mission lifts off, carrying the Dragon resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station. Liftoff was during an instantaneous window at 3:25 p.m. EDT.

Dragon is making its fourth trip to the space station. The SpaceX-3 mission, carrying almost 2.5 tons of supplies, technology and science experiments, is the third of 12 flights under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract to resupply the orbiting laboratory. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett