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Russia may use new Angara carrier rocket in Sea Launch project — space firm

At least two options are being discussed to adapt the floating Sea Launch platform and the Angara carrier rocket, the chief designer said

MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Russia’s promising Angara-A3 medium-class carrier rocket may be used in the Sea Launch project instead of the Russian-Ukrainian Zenit rocket, the chief designer of the Khrunichev Space Center, which is the Angara developer, told TASS on Tuesday.

"So far, this idea remains. We should wait for some decisions, after which it will be possible to have a serious talk about something," Alexander Medvedev said.

At least two options are being discussed to adapt the floating Sea Launch platform and the Angara carrier rocket, the chief designer said.

"For example, we keep the A-3 [rocket] unchanged but we adjust and change the equipment earlier installed on the platform. According to the other option, we keep the equipment unhanged but in this case it will be necessary to change the Angara-3 configuration considerably. We’re not forcing the events and are simply considering both options concurrently," he said.

Sea Launch Company was established in 1995 by US Boeing, Russia’s Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation, the Norwegian shipyard Kvaerner (now Aker Solutions) and the Ukrainian Yuzhnoye design bureau and Yuzhmash production association.

Sea Launch declared its bankruptcy in 2009 and in 2010 the Russian enterprise assumed the leading role in the project. However, the company announced the suspension of launches in the summer of 2014.

Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Head Igor Komarov said earlier Sea Launch could be rebased from California to Brazil but the prospects of the project remained uncertain over litigation with Boeing.