Sea Launch Prepares for Action

The Sea Launch platform, accompanied by a command ship, will launch satellites from Pacific sites near the equator.

Long Beach, California — In October, the Sea Launch platform Odyssey arrived at its home port in Long Beach, after an 18,000-mile journey that began in Vyborg, Russia, and took it to Norway, Gibralter, Egypt (Suez Canal) and Singapore. Odyssey is a 20-story-high, 436-foot-long, self-propelled vessel that will serve as the launch platform for Sea Launch, of which Boeing is a 40 percent partner. Boeing will produce the payload fairings and provide spacecraft integration and mission operations.

The Sea Launch Company is a joint venture of Boeing, RSC Energia of Moscow, KB Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of Ukraine, and Kvaerner Maritime of Norway. Sea Launch uses a Ukranian- and Russian-built rocket, the Norwegian-built Odyssey launch platform, and a 656-foot-long command ship, the Sea Launch Commander.

From Long Beach, the Odyssey and Sea Launch Commander, with a crew of 240, will sail regularly to international waters near the equator to launch satellites. In the commercial satellite launch business — where economics is vital — a launch site at or close to the equator translates into the potential for fuel savings and heavier payloads. In addition, this location eliminates the need for costly upper-stage maneuvering to achieve a geostationary orbit. Sea Launch will demonstrate the capabilities of its ocean-based commercial launch system with its first launch in March 1999. The joint venture currently has 18 firm launch contracts through the year 2004.

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