Odyssey (launch platform)

History
NameOdyssey
OwnerS7 Group
OperatorSea Launch
Port of registryMonrovia, Liberia
BuilderSumitomo Heavy Industries, Oppama Shipyard, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan
CompletedMarch 1983[1]
Identification
General characteristics
Class and typeSemi-submersible mobile spacecraft launch platform
Tonnage36,436 GT
Displacement
Length132.9 m (436 ft)
Beam67 m (220 ft)
Draught34.5 m (113 ft)
Installed power8 × Bergen KVG/B-12 engines (~1,550 hp or 1,160 kW each)
Crew68 crew and launch system personnel

LP Odyssey is a self-propelled semi-submersible mobile spacecraft launch platform converted from a mobile drilling rig in 1997.

The vessel was used by Sea Launch for equatorial Pacific Ocean launches. She works in concert with the assembly and control ship Sea Launch Commander. Her home port was at the Port of Long Beach in the United States.

In her current form, Odyssey is 436 feet (133 m) long and about 220 feet (67 m) wide, with an empty draft displacement of 30,000 tonnes (29,500 long tons), and a submerged draft displacement of 50,600 tonnes (49,800 long tons).[2] The vessel has accommodations for 68 crew and launch system personnel, including living, dining, medical and recreation facilities. A large environmentally-controlled hangar stores the rocket during transit, from which the rocket is rolled out and erected prior to fueling and launch.

In September 2016 the platform along with other Sea Launch assets was sold to S7 Group, the parent company of S7 Airlines.[3][needs update] Since then she has been moved to a port on the east coast of Russia, along with the other ship.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ord080414 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Sea Launch System".
  3. ^ "Sea Launch floating spaceport's new owner to resume launches". TASS. 12 December 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2018.