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HISD students experiments aboard SpaceX Falcon

The first privately-launched spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station took to the skies on schedule, Sunday night.

The lift-off was flawless as the SpaceX Falcon rocket began its journey from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

Here in Houston, half a dozen HISD students were watching at Johnston Middle School. Their scientific experiments are aboard the Dragon capsule at the tip of the rocket ship.

"I don't think it's really hit me yet," said Allie Burns, a 9th grader at Lamar High School. "I'm still in a state of disbelief because this doesn't happen to everyone, you know?"

Burns' experiment examines the growth of bacteria and the effectiveness of antibiotics in micro-gravity.

But the main duty of this mission isn't science, it is supplies. The capsule is carrying half a ton of provisions to the ISS.

It's the first of a dozen flights in SpaceX's $1.6 billion contract with NASA.