WASHINGTON — A Rocket Lab Electron successfully placed a BlackSky high-resolution imaging satellite into orbit on a June 2 launch.

The Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 7:57 p.m. Eastern. Its payload, a Gen-3 imaging satellite for BlackSky, deployed from the rocket’s kick stage 52 minutes later into a circular orbit at an altitude of 470 kilometers.

This was the second of BlackSky’s Gen-3 satellites to reach orbit, after one launched on another Electron in February . The Gen-3 satellites can provide imagery at a resolution of 35 centimeters as well as perform observations at short-wave infrared wavelengths that can penetrate smoke and haze. The satellites also have intersatellite links to decrease latency.

“With each successive launch Blac

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