spacetoday.net: Rocket Lab launches BlackSky satellites

Posted: Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 12:52 PM ET (1752 GMT)
Electron launch of BlackSky satellites, December 2021 (Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab launched another pair of BlackSky imaging satellites Wednesday evening. The Electron lifted off at 7:02 pm EST (0002 GMT Thursday) from the company's Launch Complex One in New Zealand, deploying the two satellites an hour later. This launch took place just three weeks after another Electron launched a pair of BlackSky satellites; between the two, BlackSky flew two others as rideshare payloads on a Falcon 9 Starlink launch. The launch is the sixth and final Electron mission of 2021. A day before the launch, Rocket Lab announced a contract with Synspective, a Japanese company developing a constellation of radar imaging satellites, to launch three of those satellites on dedicated Electron missions in 2022 and 2023.