WASHINGTON — A Rocket Lab Electron launched a commercial payload Nov. 5 on a flight wrapped in as much secrecy as a classified government mission. The Electron lifted off from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 5:54 a.m. Eastern. The kick stage carrying the payload for the mission separated from the upper stage nine minutes after liftoff, at which point Rocket Lab ended its coverage of the mission. Rocket Lab reported payload deployment and “100% mission success,” in the words of Chief Executive Peter Beck, nearly an…
