A COMMERCIAL craft carrying a tonne of supplies for the International Space Station has run into thruster trouble shortly after liftoff.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk said three of the four sets of thrusters on the company's unmanned Dragon capsule did not immediately kick in, delaying the release of twin solar panels for two hours on Friday.
The company said in a statement that a fuel valve was at fault, and that two sets of thrusters were needed before the Dragon could begin the manoeuvres needed to get to the space station.
But more than four hours after the launch, there was no word on whether any more thrusters were working.
And as the afternoon wore on, Saturday's planned rendezvous with the space station became less likely. SpaceX and NASA hastily called a news conference for mid-afternoon.
The capsule is equipped with 18 thrusters, divided into four sets, and can manoeuvre adequately even if they aren't all working.
The problem cropped up following Dragon's separation from the rocket upper stage, nine minutes into the flight.
The liftoff was right on time and appeared to go flawlessly; the previous Falcon launch in October suffered a single engine failure that resulted in the loss of a communications satellite that was hitching a ride on the rocket.
This is the first major trouble to strike a Dragon in orbit. Two similar capsules, launched last year, had no problem getting to the orbiting lab.
More than 1 tonne of space station supplies is aboard this Dragon, including some much-needed equipment for air purifiers.
NASA's Mission Control informed the six-man crew that the Dragon would be passing directly beneath the space station in the afternoon, and urged them to keep a lookout.
SpaceX has a $US1.6 billion ($A1.58 billion) contract with NASA for 12 deliveries to restock the space station, and hopes the venture will lead to transporting astronauts there in a few years.
The California-based SpaceX, run by the billionaire who helped create PayPal, is in charge of the flight, until it gets near the space station. Then NASA calls the shots.
This Dragon is scheduled to spend more than three weeks at the space station before being cut loose by the crew on March 25.
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