$500 million super-imaging satellite launched into orbit

A super-sharp Earth-imaging satellite that can detail an area the size of a baseball diamond’s home plate from space has been launched into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast.

A Delta 2 rocket carrying the GeoEye-1 satellite lifted off at 11:50 a.m. Saturday. Video on the GeoEye Web site showed the satellite separating from the rocket moments later on its way to an eventual polar orbit.

Arizona-based General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, the satellite makers, say GeoEye-1 cost more than $500 million to build and launch.

The satellite will orbit 423 miles up and circle the Earth more than a dozen times a day. In a single day, it can collect color images of an area the size of New Mexico, or a black-and-white image the size of Texas.

-From Associated Press reports