Sea Launch platform to join aggressor’s fleet
The company owning the Sea Launch platform, originally
developed with Ukrainian involvement, will develop ship repair facilities and
create an engineering center in Murmansk, Russia, according to Interfax.
The company Space Center Sea Launch, a subsidiary of the
Russian S7 Group that owns the platform, will design a ship repair yard based
on the existing infrastructure.
Part of the premises will be dedicated to an engineering
center, which will be established by S7 in collaboration with the Murmansk
Arctic University. The engineering center will focus on developing technologies
and products for the ship repair industry.
Murmansk Oblast and S7 Group signed an agreement at the end
of 2023 to cooperate on the project to create a ship repair enterprise in
Murmansk.
In 2016, S7 Group acquired the floating spaceport—the Sea
Launch platform. The holding also acquired the Sea Launch Commander ship, the
Odyssey platform with its rocket segment equipment, ground equipment at the
base port in Long Beach, California, and intellectual property rights belonging
to Sea Launch, including the trademark.
The international consortium Sea Launch Company was
established in 1995. It included the American company Boeing Commercial Space
Company (a subsidiary of aerospace corporation Boeing), which provided overall
management and financing (40% of the capital); the Russian Rocket and Space
Corporation Energia (25%); Ukrainian Yuzhnoye Design Office (5%) and Yuzhmash
(10%); and Norwegian shipbuilding company Aker Kværner (20%). The first rocket
was launched in March 1999.
On June 22, 2009, the company declared bankruptcy and
financial reorganization.
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