Sea Launch could return in 2016
January 4, 2016
By Chris Forrester
Sea Launch is the floating rocket launch platform that had enjoyed some success in the period up to 2013. The platform is based at Long Beach, California, but is Russian owned. Its facilities have been in mothball since 2014 following a launch failure, a Chapter 11 near-bankruptcy and the invasion by Russia of the Crimea region of the Ukraine.
The head of Sea Launch, Sergei Gugkayev, speaking on December 30th said there had been renewed customer interest in getting back to business. He added that Sea Launch would be actively competing for new launch contracts this year.
Sea Launch is owned primarily by RSC Energia, although reports emerged in 2015 that the Chinese government was considering buying the operation.