Sea Launch Completes Investigation of Intelsat 27 Launch Failure

Sea Launch AG announced today completion of its investigation into the cause of the January 31, 2013 (Pacific Time, February 1 Eastern Time) failure of the launch of the Intelsat-27 satellite.  Corrective actions are underway and do not require hardware changes, the company said.

The launch failure was another blow not only to Sea Launch itself, but to the reputation of the Russian and Ukrainian companies that produce the Zenit rocket’s three stages.   The first two stages of Sea Launch’s version of Zenit, the Zenit-3SL, are Ukrainian, with a Russian third stage on top.  The rocket is launched from a Norwegian-built mobile ocean-going platform based in Long Beach, CA and towed to a position close to the equator for launch.  Boeing originally was a 40 percent partner in Sea Launch, but the company declared bankruptcy in 2009 after a spectacular launch failure in 2007. The company reorganized and now is 95 percent owned by Russia’s Energia RSC.  Boeing retains a very small share of the company.

The Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) for the January 31 failure issued its final report on May 31, concurring with earlier findings that the failure was isolated to the rocket’s first stage hydraulic power supply unit and corrective actions involve additional inspections and tests, Sea Launch said today.   Company executives will now meet with customer and insurance representatives to convince them the rocket is ready to return to flight.