Odyssey launch pad and Sea Launch
The Zenit liquid-propellant rocket crashed into the Pacific Ocean shortly after launch on Friday due to an "emergency shutdown" of its first stage motor, reports from Moscow said quoting the Russian space corporation RKK Energia. The first stage of the rocket malfunctioned, leading the rocket to an incorrect trajectory 40 seconds after the liftoff.
Several Russian media reports said the platform itself was unstable at the time of the launch because of heavy weather. Sources said the Zenit had purposefully steered itself as far away from the Odyssey as possible -- instead of going straight up -- because the engines detected a problem and were programmed to save the ground crew, reports DMITRY ZAKS FOR AFP. The commercial launch firm, returning from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after a similar launch pad loss in 2007, had re-emerged in 2011 and had lofted four satellites successfully from the Odyssey platform before Friday's loss (Feb. 1, 2013), notes the BBC AND SPACEFLIGHTNOW. Of the 34 previous Sea Launch rocket launches since 1999, two have failed, with a third placing its payload into an incorrect, but recoverable orbit.
An affiliate of Russia's RKK Energia state-controlled rocket manufacturer owns 95 percent of stock in Sea Launch, with the remainder being held indirectly by Boeing Co. and Norwegian Aker ASA. The Zenit booster is manufactured by Ukraine's Yuzhmash rocket plant.
BACKGROUND: Sea Launch is a spacecraft launch service that uses a mobile sea platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit 3SL rockets.
