Washington DC – October 9, 1997 – Boeing Sea Launch officials have dedicated their Assembly and Command ship the "Sea Launch Commander" in ceremonies late last month at the platform's facility and rocket equipment construction site in Glasgow, Norway. The ship, which will be used for the first time next fall when a three stage version of the Russian Zenit space booster is launched at sea, will serve as an ocean going "Mission Control" for the Boeing space launches.

The platform will house electronic tracking and instrumentation equipment

receiving radio status from the Zenit and its satellite payloads, which

will be mounted on a nearby self-propelled Launch Platform. Both the

command ship and the launch platform are being constructed by one of

Boeing's partners in the project, Kvaerner Marine of Oslo, Norway.

The construction of the platform began last year at Kvaerner's Govan

shipyard complex, on Glasgow's Clyde River. When used in support of space

launches at sea, the boat will be able to accommodate up to 50 customer

members and a service crew. The floating rocket control center weighs more

than 34,000 tons.

The Zenit's launching platform will carry the rocket and payload stored in

environmentally controlled conditions during its cruise to the launch

point, a location near the earth's equator just off Christmas Island in the

Pacific Ocean. Once at the launch site, the rocket will be rolled out to

its pad atop the platform, fueled, checked out and launched. The platform

will carry storage tanks for the rocket's fuel, as well as transporter and

erector systems in addition to the Zenit itself.

While the dedication ceremony was interesting for the statement it made

about Sea Launch's progress, it was also noteworthy for the person that did

the dedication: Mrs. Bobbie Cromer. She is the wife of Hughes Space and

Communications International chair Don Cromer. And what, you might ask, has

that to do with Sea Launch? Hughes is the customer for that first inaugural

launch next year, and has booked a dozen more, carrying their biggest

satellite, the HS702. In its eternal quest for the cheapest ride to orbit,

Hughes has enabled several new players on the commercial launch scene,

including the Delta III as well as the Sea Launch Zenit. Thus, who better

to dedicate the floating Cape Canaveral than the wife of the man who made

it, in a sense, possible.