Boeing

The combined Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and Long Beach Chambers of Commerce will hear a report on the Sea Launch program on Wednesday, Sept. 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Long Beach Hilton, Two World Trade Center, Long Beach, Calif.

Speaking will be Amy L. Buhrig of The Boeing Company, Sea Launch's manager of business development. Mayor Beverly O'Neill of Long Beach will open the program, welcoming Sea Launch to Long Beach.

Sea Launch, an international consortium, will operate its home port in Long Beach. Its first launch, that of a Hughes communications satellite, is scheduled for next year from international waters along the equator.

Sea Launch's specialized Home Port facilities will handle satellite payloads and booster rockets, plus berth and maintain a self-propelled launch platform and a command ship. Occupying portions of a former U.S. Navy base, the 16.75-acre site incorporates existing facilities that include a 1,100-foot-long wharf and 202,000 square feet of warehouse and office space that is being altered and improved for use by Sea Launch.

Under construction from scratch is a large, purpose-built structure for satellite handling.

Buhrig has served in her current capacity since 1994. Prior to joining Sea Launch, she managed a team examining the transition of the "customer-in" design philosophy of Boeing on a range of efforts from the 777 commercial airplane program to space systems development.

She supported Boeing activity in the National Space Launch System program and participated in strategic planning leading to the entrance of Boeing into the commercial space marketplace. Joining the company in 1981, she holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA from the University of Washington.

The Sea Launch partners are Boeing Commercial Space Co. of Seattle, Washington (40 percent); RSC-Engeria of Moscow, Russia (25 percent); Kvaerner Maritime a.s. of Oslo, Norway (20 percent); and KB Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine (15 percent).

Interested chamber non-members may obtain tickets by calling (310) 723-5399.