What is Sea Launch?
Sea Launch is a spacecraft launch service based on the principle that launches from the Earth’s equator are the most fuel-efficient possible, utilizing the Earth’s rotation to help accelerate a rocket to escape velocity. To launch a rocket from the equator without being dependent on any equatorial government or nation, the venture uses a self-propelled ocean platform located in the equatorial Pacific, the Ocean Odyssey, as the launch pad. The rocket and payload are assembled and carried to the platform by the Sea Launch Commander, which ports in Long Beach, California. The total cost of the project was reported as $583 million USD (US Dollars) in 1996, with $400 USD in loans from Chase Manhattan secured around this time. Sea Launch was founded in 1995, and is owned by a consortium of 4 companies; Boeing Commercial Space (United States, 40% ownership), Energia (Russia, 25%), Aker Solutions (Norway, 20%), and SDO Yuzhnoye (Ukraine, 15%). The first rocket launch was in 1999. The clients a
Sea Launch is a spacecraft launch service based on the principle that launches from the Earth’s equator are the most fuel-efficient possible, utilizing the Earth’s rotation to help accelerate a rocket to escape velocity. To launch a rocket from the equator without being dependent on any equatorial government or nation, the venture uses a self-propelled ocean platform located in the equatorial Pacific, the Ocean Odyssey, as the launch pad. The rocket and payload are assembled and carried to the platform by the Sea Launch Commander, which ports in Long Beach, California. The total cost of the project was reported as $583 million USD (US Dollars) in 1996, with $400 million USD in loans from Chase Manhattan secured around this time.
