WASHINGTON, March 22 --A private U.S. cargo ship carrying a 3D printer, nanosatellites and an experiment to study fire in space blasted off on Tuesday night on an orbital delivery mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA, the U.S. space agency's TV broadcast showed.

The unmanned Cygnus spacecraft, operated by NASA commercial provider Orbital ATK, lifted off on an Atlas V rocket at 11:05 p.m. EDT (0305 GMT Wednesday) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the southern U.S. state of Florida.

This flight marked Orbital ATK's fifth official mission to the ISS for NASA under a commercial resupply services contract.