Sea Launch Aims for Fall Launch

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A Long Beach-based venture that launches rockets at sea said Tuesday that it could begin launching again in October, about eight months after an explosion destroyed a commercial satellite and grounded operations, the Los Angeles Times reports.


Sea Launch Co., a joint venture of Boeing Co., a Norwegian shipbuilder and Russian rocket makers, said the explosion was caused by an anomaly in the rocket’s first-stage engine, which provides the initial thrust for liftoff.


The failed launch Jan. 30 gained worldwide notoriety after dramatic video images of the explosion were posted on the Internet. The images captured Sea Launch’s oceangoing platform engulfed in a massive fireball.


In a statement to the Associated Press last month, the Ukrainian firm that built the engine said the explosion might have been caused by a stray metal fragment that entered a pump in the rocket’s engine.


A commission formed by Russian and Ukrainian space agencies to investigate the incident outlined steps to prevent a similar occurrence and recommended the continued use of the rocket engines.


The engines were used in 24 previously successful Sea Launch missions.


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