Sea Launch is a unique spacecraft launch service that uses a specially modified floating oil drilling platform, positioned in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, for its launch platform.

Four companies from four countries contribute to Sea Launch, and share in its ownership:

Sea Launch rockets are assembled in Long Beach, California and placed in a hangar on the launch platform, which then sails to the equator. The hangar is opened, the rocket is moved to a vertical position, and the crew then gets onto a command ship. Then, with the launch platform unmanned, the rocket is fueled and finally launched.

The first demonstration satellite was launched in March 1999, and the first commercial satellite in October 1999. In total, Sea Launch has launched 12 rockets, with 11 successes. The one failure, of a Hughes-built communications satellite owned by ICO Global Communications, occurred on the second commercial launch in March 2000 and was blamed on a software error that failed to close a valve in the second stage of the rocket.

All commercial payloads to date have been communications satellites intended for geostationary orbit, with such customers as Echostar, DirecTV, XM Radio, and PanAmSat.

Sea Launch has a reciprocal agreement with Arianespace, providing assurance in case either company's system is not able to launch a payload, whether for reasons of reliability, capacity, backlog, or otherwise. This was used for the first time in 2004, when Arianespace's Ariane 5 had to reschedule a group of launches for reliability reasons.

See also

• Expendable launch system
• San Marco platform, part of a similar program in the 1970s and 1980s

External links

• Sea Launch home page