Mar 13 2000
From The Space Library
The Sea Launch Company suffered a setback in its bid to become a major participant in the satellite launch industry, when one of its Russian-Ukrainian Zenit 3SL rockets carrying a British communications satellite crashed into the Pacific Ocean. The launch was only the third undertaken by the international company, which had planned to use a converted ocean oil rig known as Odyssey as its permanent launchpad. The Sea Launch Company comprised the Boeing Company, together with companies from Russia, Ukraine, and Norway. The company had designed its innovative Sea Launch System to use Earth's rotation and the faster movement of Earth's surface at the equator to make it easier to launch rockets with heavy payloads. The failed satellite had cost London-based ICO Global Communications more than US$ 100 million to develop.
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