Posted: Tue, Oct 21, 2003, 8:07 PM ET (0007 GMT)
The multinational Sea Launch venture announced Monday that it will go ahead with plans to launch its Zenit 3SL booster from Baikonur in a bid to capture launches of smaller satellites. Sea Launch said it plans to offer land-based launches of the Zenit 3SL from Baikonur starting in the 4th quarter of 2005 under the name Land Launch. From Baikonur the Zenit 3SL can place payloads weighing up to 2,500 to 3,000 kilograms into geosynchronous transfer orbit, about half of the capacity of the vehicle when launched from its floating platform on the Equator in the Pacific. The company said it will offer a two-stage version, without the Block-DM upper stage, for launching heavier payloads into low Earth orbit. The and Launch concept had been discussed for some time, particularly by SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash, the Ukrainian developers of the Zenit. Left unclear is how many payloads would need a "medium-lift" service like Land Launch, although Itar-Tass, via AFP, reported Tuesday that a "preliminary agreement" for the first commercial Land Launch mission has already been signed with an unspecified customer.

Related Links:

•  Boeing press release
•  AFP article