Sea Launch
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Sea Launch command ship "Commander" in its home port at Long Beach, California (April 17, 2004)
Photo Credit: Frank Leuband, Germany

Sea Launch is a spacecraft launch service that uses a mobile sea platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit 3SL rockets. As of January 2007 it had assembled and launched 24 rockets with two failures and one partial failure.

The sea-based launch system means the rockets can be fired from the optimum position on Earth's surface, considerably increasing payload capacity and reducing launch costs compared to land-based systems.

The Sea Launch consortium of four companies from the United States, Russia, Ukraine and Norway, was established in 1995 and their first rocket was launched in March 1999. It is managed by Boeing with participation from the other shareholders.  SOURCE: Wikipedia

Sea Launch command ship "Commander" in its home port at Long Beach, California (April 17, 2004)
Photo Credit: Frank Leuband, Germany

The launcher and its payload are assembled on a purpose-built ship Sea Launch Commander in Long Beach, California. It is then positioned on top of the self-propelled platform Ocean Odyssey and moved to the equatorial Pacific Ocean for launch, with the Sea Launch Commander serving as command center.

Although Sea Launch is currently the world's only ocean-based space launch company, the idea is not unique: in 1964–1988 the University of Rome La Sapienza in Italy and NASA launched spacecraft from the San Marco platform off the coast of Kenya. 

Four companies from four countries share ownership of Cayman Islands-registered Sea Launch
 

Company  Country of origin Ownership share Contribution
Boeing Commercial Space United States 40% system integration, payload enclosures (nose-cone that protects the satellite during launch)
Energia Russia 25% Block DM-SL rocket stage (it is used in the Zenit 3SL rocket as its 3rd stage)
Aker Kværner Norway 20% launch platform (Ocean Odyssey) and command ship (Sea Launch Commander)
SDO Yuzhnoye / PO Yuzhmash Ukraine 15% two stage Zenit rocket (it is used as Zenit 3SL's stages 1 and 2)

SOURCE: Wikipedia

Sea Launch
In It's Home Port
33°44'42"N   118°13'31.55"W
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Sea Launch 
Transformed from a North Sea oil-drilling platform, the Odyssey has special equipment that makes it a floating launch complex. It is shown here in the Suez Canal as makes it way from Russia to California in summer 1998.
 
© Boeing Sea Launch

Visit the Sea Launch Home Page Here

Sea Launch Documentary
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Youtube Link

Sea Launch is a spacecraft launch service that uses a mobile sea platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit 3SL rockets. As of January 2007 it had assembled and launched 24 rockets with two failures and one partial failure.

The sea-based launch system means the rockets can be fired from the optimum position on Earth's surface, considerably increasing payload capacity and reducing launch costs compared to land-based systems.

The Sea Launch consortium of four companies from the United States, Russia, Ukraine and Norway, was established in 1995 and their first rocket was launched in March 1999. It is managed by Boeing with participation from the other shareholders.

All commercial payloads have been communications satellites intended for geostationary transfer orbit with such customers as EchoStar, DirecTV, XM Satellite Radio, and PanAmSat.

The launcher and its payload are assembled on a purpose-built ship Sea Launch Commander in Long Beach, California. It is then positioned on top of the self-propelled platform Ocean Odyssey and moved to the equatorial Pacific Ocean for launch, with the Sea Launch Commander serving as command center.

SOURCE: BrunoTheQuestionable Youtube

Image Courtesy of ©2007 DPD Productions

All Sea Launch missions to date have used the custom-designed three-stage Zenit-3SL launch vehicle, capable of placing up to six tonnes of payload in geosynchronous orbit. Sea Launch rocket components are manufactured by SDO Yuzhnoye / PO Yuzhmash in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine (Zenit rocket for the first and second stages); by Energia in Moscow, Russia (Block DM-SL for third stage); and by Boeing in Seattle, United States (payload fairing and interstage structure).

Sea Launch rockets are assembled in Long Beach, California. The typical assembly is done onboard the Assembly and Command Ship (the payload is first tested, fueled and encapsulated in the Payload Processing Facility). The rocket is then transferred to a horizontal hangar on the self-propelled launch platform.

Following rocket tests, both ships then sail about 4,828 km to the equator at 154° West Longitude, [show location on an interactive map] 0° N 154° W, in international waters about 370 km from Kiritimati, Kiribati. The platform travels the distance in about 11 days, the command ship in about eight days.

With the platform ballasted to its launch depth, the hangar is opened, the rocket is automatically moved to a vertical position, and the launch platform crew evacuates to the command ship which moves about five kilometers away. Then, with the launch platform unmanned, the rocket is fueled and launched.

SOURCE: Wikipedia

View Live Launch when they are happening here

Image Courtesy of ©2007 DPD Productions

The Sea Launch Partnership

Sea Launch partners and their operational contributions are:

  • Boeing - payload fairing, analytical/physical spacecraft integration, mission operations, Home Port management
  • RSC Energia - Block DM upper stage, launch vehicle integration, ground systems and launch operations
  • SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash - two stages of Zenit-3SL, vehicle integration support, launch operations support
  • Aker ASA - Odyssey Launch Platform and the Sea Launch Commander (Assembly and Command Ship
  • SOURCE: Boeing Sea Launch Information Page
  • Sea Launch info - [PDF][Archived]
Sea Launch
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Sea Launch platform ship "Odyssey"
Photo Credit: MULTICONTROL SERVICES AB MARINE/OFFSHORE ENGINEERING 
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Blurred out engines from the Promo video
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View of Rocket Engines
Photo Credit: MULTICONTROL SERVICES AB MARINE/OFFSHORE ENGINEERING 
Sea Launch NSS8 Failure Video


Youtube Link

Uploaded on Mar 20, 2008

NSS8 Launch Failure Video direct from webcast.

Launch of Eutelsat 3B on Zenit from Sea Launch Platform
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Youtube Link

Published on May 26, 2014
PROCESSING HIGHLIGHTS: http://youtu.be/XToDM_DeBdk

The Eutelsat 3B satellite was successfully launched into orbit today by a Zenit 3SL rocket from the Sea Launch Odyssey platform positioned in the Pacific Ocean. Liftoff occurred at 21:10 UTC, May 26th 2014, This was the 36th Sea Launch launch and the first since a failure in 2013 with the Intelsat 27 satellite.

Eutelsat 3B will be positioned at 3 degrees East alongside Eutelsat 3A and Eutelsat 3D and will provide video, data, Internet and telecom services across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of South America.
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