CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A privately owned rocket blasted off Sunday night on the first of a dozen space station supply missions under a mega-contract with NASA.

The California-based SpaceX launched its unmanned Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. Aboard the rocket was SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, holding 1,000 pounds of cargo, including chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream for the three station residents.