We have lift-off: Japanese rocket Stork 2 heads to space station with six tons of supplies

From its launch pad on a remote island, a Japanese rocket hurtled into the sky today in a plume of white smoke.

The unmanned Kounotori 2 (Stork 2 in Japanese) is carrying six tons of supplies for the astronauts on the orbiting International Space Station.

Applause broke out at the control centre on the southern Tanegashima Island as officials announced that the launch phase was a success.

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Blast-off: The rocket carrying supplies to the space station soars into the sky today from the southern Japanese island of Tanegashima

The Kounotori - carrying food, water, clothing and experimental equipment including cargo for Nasa - is expected to rendezvous with the space station next Thursday.

It will be grappled by the station's robotic arm and docked to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module.

After dropping off the cargo and being loaded up with waste material, the rocket will be detached and burn itself up upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

The mission is designed to help fill a hole left by the shutdown of Nasa's space shuttle programme.

The right stuff: The Japanese rocket took off successfully today with six tons of supplies for the orbiting International Space Station

JAXA, Japan's space agency, hopes the project will help it build expertise for similar low-cost ferrying missions and push forward Japan's own manned flights.

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Missions for the International Space Station have become more important now that the U.S. has scaled back its ability to launch supplies.

Since 2009, the station has been manned by six astronauts in an international project involving 15 nations. But keeping them fed and supplied has become a big challenge.