Another Zenit 3SL Sea Launch Failure

Once the platform is ballasted to a depth of 22 m, the launch vehicle hangar is opened and the Zenit 3SL is mechanically moved to a vertical position. 

The launch platform crew members then evacuate to the command ship which steams about five kilometers away. 

Rocket stages are then remotely commanded to load propellants. 

The final launch sequence is then completed and launch takes place.

Sea Launch is currently a Russian spacecraft launch service that uses a mobile seagoing platform for direct equatorial launches of commercial payloads on Zenit 3SL rockets.

Since its inception there have been 31 launches, including three failures and one partial failure. The sea-based system operates out of Long Beach, California, but its launches take place from an equatorial spot in the Pacific Ocean. This location allows a minimal energy ascent-to-orbit for geostationary-bound satellites.

Sea Launch was originally established in 1995 as a consortium of four companies from Norway, Russia, Ukraine and the United States. The program was managed by Boeing with personnel participation from the other shareholders.

Its first launch took place in March 1999. Almost all of Sea Launch's commercial payloads have been communications satellites intended for geostationary transfer orbit. The launch vehicle and its payload are assembled in Long Beach on a specially outfitted ship, the "Sea Launch Commander."

Once assembled the vehicle is positioned on top of a self-propelled converted oil platform, the "Ocean Odyssey." Both the command ship and the platform sail some 4,828 km to an equatorial position at 154 degrees West Longitude, where final pre-launch operations and launch take place.

The travel time to the site is about 11 days for the platform and about eight days for the command ship.