Long Beach-based Seal Launch Co. said that this week’s rocket explosion caused only limited damage to the firm’s Pacific Ocean launch pad, and should not seriously crimp the company’s long-term plans.

In a preliminary assessment, the commercial launch operator said the platform, an oil rig converted to a floating launch pad, seemed to have retained its structural integrity after Tuesday’s explosion in the Pacific and was operating under its own power. Engineers went aboard the platform Thursday to assess the damage.

“It’s amazing,” said Sea Launch spokeswoman Paula Korn, who was narrating the launch for the company’s Web cast when the explosion left her momentarily speechless. “There was some damage to the pad, but the bridge is fine and the light bulbs in the hangar are still on and working.”

Sea Launch, a joint venture of Chicago-based Boeing Co. and Russian rocket makers, disputed the assessment of industry analyst Steve Mather of Sanders Morris Harris, who told Bloomberg News that the explosion caused extensive damage and could delay launches 10 months or more. Tuesday’s launch was the first of six scheduled this year.

“We’re still taking inventory, so we just don’t know yet,” Korn said. “It’s too premature to say what kind of delay there might be.”

A rocket failure in 2000 caused a four-month delay.