MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti) - A European carrier rocket took off from French Guiana early on Sunday on a mission to bring supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), a spokesman for Russia's mission control said.

The Ariane-5 rocket lifted off at 04:03 GMT from the Kourou space center to bring a 20-ton unmanned cargo module into orbit.

"The rocket was launched in the nominal mode and at the designated time. Live TV broadcasting showed the historic footage of the first minutes of bringing Europe's space freighter, Jules Verne, named after the French science fiction writer, into orbit for its eventual docking with the ISS," Russia's mission control said.

The cargo module, the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), is Europe's largest spacecraft to contribute to the ISS program. The module is expected to dock with the ISS platform in early April.