Zenith launches under Sea Launch Program to be resumed in July

“The International Sea Launch Consortium has rescheduled the June 29 launch of the Zenith 3 SL rocket carrier from the platform in the Pacific Ocean,” press secretary of the Pivdenne design office in Dnipropetrovsk Yuriy Alekseyenko told The Day . According to Alekseyenko, the launch of the Ukrainian rocket carrier has been rescheduled for July due to the fact that the American partners have not provided it with the satellite. The information about the satellite to be carried by Zenith and its owner, accordingly with the existing agreement, is confidential. According to Alekseyenko, the Ukrainian rocket carrier is ready for take-off. It is common knowledge that difficulties in executing the Sea Launch program started in spring this year with the unsuccessful launch of the third rocket carrier. It crashed into the ocean with a satellite on board. According to the scientific commission, the cause of the crash was a mistake in the algorithm of the ground automatic control system of pre-launch preparation, which had been devised and developed by Russian specialists after the second launch. Alekseyenko stated that the mistake had been eliminated and the members of the commission had no claims to their Ukrainian partners. Some four launches are to be made by the end of the year 2000 under the Sea Launch program. Three Zenith rocket carriers are already stationed in the base port in California. “Dnipropetrovsk constructors and rocket builders connect great hopes to the Sea Launch program,” Yuriy Alekseyenko emphasized. “Last year’s revenues from commercial contracts made up some 60% of our funding, which enabled us to continue working on space technology and preserve accumulated scientific and technical potential.”