In what is a key stage of Sea Launch’s return to flight plans, the refurbished Odyssey Launch Platform will head to Vancouver, where special engineering work will be carried out on replacing the flame deflector that was blown off during January’s launch failure.
The explosion of the Zenit 3SL, carrying the NSS-8 communications satellite for SES New Skies, was caused by a small foreign object – believed to be a loose bolt in the LOX tank – which was sucked into the RD-171 engine’s turbomachinery, sources note.