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Deal for selling Sea Launch project’s assets to be closed by yearend

The deal’s closure will help repay a considerable part of Sea Launch Group’s debts to Energiya Corporation

MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. The deal for selling the Sea Launch project’s assets is expected to be closed in late 2017, Russia’s Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation said in its annual report on Thursday.

"The deal is expected to be finally closed in the fourth quarter of 2017 after the required authorizing licenses are obtained from the US authorities," the document says.

Read also

S7 Group buys Sea Launch floating spaceport from Russian space rocket corporation

According to the report, Sea Launch Group affiliated with Energiya Corporation signed two agreements with S7 on December 23, 2016 on selling the assets of the Sea Launch project.

Once all the terms of the deal are fulfilled, the ownership rights to the Sea Launch project’s core assets (the assembly and command ship, the Odyssey launch platform and the ground-based auxiliary equipment) will pass over to new owners.

"The deal’s closure will help repay a considerable part of Sea Launch Group’s debts to Energiya Corporation," the document says.

Energiya intends to continue cooperation with the new owner of the Sea Launch project, providing all possible assistance in the complex’s development and operation, the document reads.

Sea Launch

The Sea Launch is an international commercial project of the seaborne rocket and space complex. Sea Launch Company was established in 1995 for the project’s implementation. Its founders included US Boeing, Russia’s Energiya Corporation, the Norwegian shipyard Kvaerner (currently Aker Solutions), Ukraine’s Yuzhnoye design bureau and the Ukrainian Yuzhmash rocket and space enterprise. Sea Launch Company declared its bankruptcy in the summer of 2009 and after its reorganization in 2010 Russia’s Energiya Corporation gained the leading role in the project. Space launches were suspended in 2014.

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Sea Launch Project may get a new class rocket

In late September 2016, S7 signed a contract with Sea Launch Group on the project’s acquisition. The purchase items comprised the Odyssey floating platform, the Sea Launch Commander ship, the ground-based equipment at Long Beach port (California), and also the Sea Launch trademark.

Space launches from the floating spaceport are expected to restart in 2018. A total of 10-12 launches are expected to be conducted under the project during the first five years.

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