Posted: Thu, Oct 18, 2001, 5:09 PM ET (2109 GMT)
A Delta 2 booster successfully launched a commercial high-resolution imaging spacecraft Thursday afternoon. The Delta 2 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at 2:51 pm EDT (1851 GMT). Its payload, the QuickBird commercial imaging satellite, separated from the booster in a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit 61 minutes after liftoff. QuickBird will be used by DigitalGlobe, a company formerly known as EarthWatch, to provide images of the Earth at resolutions of up to 0.6 meters per pixel, the sharpest images commercially available. The launch is the sixth this year for the Delta 2, and the first commercial launch for the Delta this year.

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•  Spaceflight Now launch status report