Sea Launch platform survives explosion

Sea Launch platform survives explosion A massive launch sequence explosion that destroyed a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket and its communications satellite payload near the Equator on Tuesday did not cause serious damage to the company's floating launch platform, Sea Launch said Thursday.
   Sea Launch, an international joint venture between the Boeing Corp., Russia's RSC Energia, the Ukrainian rocket-builders Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash and Norwegian ship-builder Kvaerner, said that an internal investigation into the cause of the explosion was already underway.
   A preliminary assessment of the 'Odyssey' launch platform, said a Sea Launch press release 'indicates that, while it has sustained limited damage, the integrity and functionality of essential marine, communications and crew support systems remains intact.'
   Tuesday's scheduled launch of the 20-story Ukrainian/Russian-built rocket had just begun when the vehicle appeared to fall over, detonating in a fireball that engulfed the 'Odyssey,' a former oil platform converted into a rocket launch pad by Sea Launch. The rocket's 13,050-pound NSS 8 communications satellite payload did not survive the explosion.
   No one, according to Sea Launch, was hurt during Tuesday's explosion. The 'Odyssey' platform is unmanned during a launch, with the launch team stationed aboard a command ship three miles away.
   Both the 'Odyssey' and the Sea Launch command vessel are home-ported in Southern California's Port of Long Beach.
   Tuesday's flight would have been the 24th for Sea Launch since debuting in 1999. It was the second total loss of a rocket for Sea Launch.