Boeing

Sea Launch, the international launch services company with its Home Port based in Long Beach, Calif., announced plans today to move the company offices from the Cayman Islands to downtown Long Beach.

"The move will enable us to co-locate both the partnership and the Home Port business and technology initiatives," said Will Trafton, president of Sea Launch. "We established our Home Port in Long Beach Harbor in 1996 and now we are successfully operating out of these facilities. Our partners recently voted unanimously to move the management of the business to Long Beach to become more effective and efficient. We find this environment very conducive for conducting and developing business both locally and globally."

Sea Launch plans to begin occupancy in Long Beach in the third quarter with about 30 people working in the new Long Beach offices. Depending on the particular requirements of the launch schedule, there are approximately 100-400 people working at the Home Port, including employees from partner companies: Boeing (U.S.), RSC Energia (Russia), KB Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash (Ukraine) and the Anglo-Norwegian Kvaerner Group (Norway).

"The transition of Sea Launch's world headquarters from the Cayman Islands to Long Beach further identifies our community as the center of a growing technology sector that includes a burgeoning number of space-based businesses," said Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill. "The economic impact on Long Beach will be significant and reinforces the decision we made to build a future based on tourism, international trade and technology."

The Sea Launch Home Port facilities cover 16.5 acres on the Navy Mole in Long Beach Harbor, housing offices, warehouses, a payload processing facility and a pier that is home to two ocean-going vessels - Sea Launch Commander, a command and assembly ship, and the Odyssey Launch Platform.

Sea Launch receives customer satellites at the customized dockside facilities. Following the completion of fueling and encapsulation in the state-of-the-art payload processing facility, the integrated payload unit is transferred to the assembly & command ship for integration with the launch vehicle. While at Home Port, the horizontally integrated rocket is then transferred to the launch platform, where it is stored in an environmentally controlled hangar during transit to the equator.

Approximately a week before launch, Sea Launch takes the two vessels to the launch site at the equator, at 154 degrees West Longitude. The equatorial launch site provides the most direct route to orbit, offering customers maximum lift capacity for increased payload mass or extended spacecraft life. The commercial communication satellites are then launched into orbit from the marine-based operations, which reduce launch infrastructure and minimize operational cost.

For more information visit the Sea Launch website.