SpaceX successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft into orbit Sunday night despite losing an engine shortly after lift off.

The launch occurred at 8:35 p.m. EDT and was first time a Falcon 9 rocket has flown without a delay on the first scheduled launch time. But while the rocket was climbing through the atmosphere, SpaceX did experience an engine failure. It appears that one of the nine Merlin engines exploded, but SpaceX is saying that is not the case. The flight continued and, as designed, the other eight engines were more than enough to deliver the Dragon spacecraft to its proper orbit.

"Falcon 9 did exactly what it was designed to do," SpaceX said in a statement. "Like the Saturn V, which experienced engine loss on two flights, Falcon 9 is designed to handle an engine out situation and still complete its mission."

The SpaceX mission is the first contracted commercial delivery flight to the International Space Station and marks the beginning of a new era of private space flights to the ISS. On board the Dragon capsule is 882 pounds of supplies for the crew to unpack and use on the station including numerous scientific experiments.

As yesterday's launch time approached, SpaceX and NASA welcomed improving weather reports that indicated there were unlikely to be any delays because of Mother Nature. There were a few moments during the countdown when the mission controller had to wait for confirmation from various members of the launch teams, but in the end the Falcon 9 lifted off exactly on time.

All appeared to be going well during the flight until the "engine anomaly" 79 seconds after lift off. The failure occurred just a few seconds before a combination of rocket velocity and atmospheric density puts the rocket under peak mechanical stress, a time known as "Max Q." In the slow-motion video (after the jump), there appears to be a catastrophic failure of one of the nine Merlin engines. But SpaceX says the onboard computers commanded a shutdown of the engine after a sudden pressure loss and that the engine did not explode because they continued to receive data after the shutdown.

"Our review indicates that the fairing that protects the engine from aerodynamic loads ruptured due to the engine pressure release" SpaceX explained, "and that none of Falcon 9’s other eight engines were impacted by this event."

After the engine shutdown, the flight computer adjusted the ascent profile while the rocket was still climbing and successfully delivered the Dragon to the proper orbit to begin its rendezvous with the ISS.

A secondary payload, a small satellite from Orbcomm, was carried in the unpressurized section of the spacecraft and was also delivered to orbit, though it is unclear if the engine anomaly affected the proper orbit entry.

The Dragon capsule is expected to begin its approach to the ISS on Wednesday morning before being captured by the station's robotic arm with Akihiko Hoshide and Sunita Williams berthing the spacecraft to the ISS.