Europe's Ariane ATV space truck has blasted off for the International Space Station, illuminating the night sky over French Guiana.
The European Space Agency's cargo vehicle lifted off at 04:34 GMT from the Europe's spaceport at Kourou, taking a load of supplies including food, water, air, and fuel to the ISS.
This is the ESA's third Automated Transfer Vehicle, and was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket.
Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency (Esa) director general, said in a statement: "This is the start of a long journey; there will be other critical phases, especially the rendezvous [with the ISS] that will take place during the night of the 28th and 29th, Paris time."
The rocket took the ATV to 260km altitude, when thrusters kicked in to take it the remaining 130km to the ISS.
The space truck weighs 20 tonnes, and is the biggest service vehicle able to reach the ISS now that the US shuttle programme has closed down.
The current ISS crew on expedition 29 is lead by Commander Mike Fossum and includes Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin.
The next Ariane space flight from the Kourou spaceport is planned for May 15, to take two telecommunications satellites for Japan and Vietnam into orbit.