Has anyone here been following this and will this news affect the price of Boeing?
moosie
Web posted at: 9:16 PM EST (0216 GMT)
Rocket launched from platform floating in Pacific Ocean
March 27, 1999
cnn.com
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- A rocket roared off a converted oil platform floating in the equatorial Pacific Saturday in the first test of an international venture's oceangoing satellite launch system.
The Ukrainian- and Russian-built Zenit-3SL rocket carried a dummy satellite as it lifted off from the Odyssey, a self-propelled platform stationed 1,400 miles south of Hawaii.
Fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen, the three-stage rocket was to put the satellite into a geosynchronous orbit, one in which it stays over a particular area of the Earth. It was expected to take 11/2 hours to determine the success of the 8:30 p.m. EST launch.
Sea Launch Co.'s inaugural launch was conducted from mission control on the accompanying ship Sea Launch Commander. Company officials watched by satellite video link to Long Beach, home port for the two vessels.
The launch was delayed more than three hours by minor problems with support equipment. The company, citing cautiousness, had already pushed it back one day.
The demonstration launch was a critical step for Sea Launch Co., which has put $500 million into the first commercial marine-based launch system in hopes of capturing a chunk of the growing business of boosting communications satellite.
Launches at the equator allow a rocket to carry more weight into space than they can from other latitudes. The payload simulated an HS 702, a big commercial communications satellite built by Hughes Space and Communications.
boeing.com
Sea Launch Co. was formed in April 1995 in response to growing market demand for a more affordable, reliable, capable, and convenient commercial satellite launching service. As satellite-based telecommunications have become increasingly prevalent around the world, most satellite manufacturers have experienced a growth in orders and increasing difficulty or delay in contracting for launch services with existing launch providers. With some $50 billion* in satellite manufacturing and launch activity projected through the turn of the century (*Via Satellite Magazine), the owners of Sea Launch perceived a significant market opportunity for a new launch system that could be brought to market quickly (three years development time)—especially if it could offer customers more flexibility, capability, and convenience than existing systems.
Sea Launch Co. is a limited duration corporation formed in the Cayman Islands, with offices in Oslo, Norway and Seattle, Wash., and a U.S. Home Port facility in Long Beach, Calif. The company is owned by Boeing Commercial Space Co. of Seattle, Wash. (40%); RSC-Energia of Moscow, Russia (25%); Kvaerner Maritime a.s of Oslo, Norway (20%); and KB Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine (15%). Financing for the venture is being provided by these companies, and through debt financing arranged by Chase and Chemical Bank, New York, NY, U.S.A., with the participation of the World Bank.
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