LIVE: Sea Launch - Atlantic Bird 7 - September 24, 2011

[Finn]

You just made Chris cry by not reading his article

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/09/sea-launch-zenit-3sl-launch-atlantic-bird-7/

I did read it   and noticed a glitch: There's a link to the Japanese H-2A live update thread, instead of the Sea Launch thread.

Update: Already fixed, thanks.

[anik]

It was Block DM-SL n°31L?

Yes, according to RSC Energia website.

[Satori]

Exact launch time 20:17:59.064 UTC.

Thank you!!!

[short]

I noticed the sea launch webcam had stopped updating on October 4, and looked for any news. There was a piece in  Hawaii News Now  about Ocean Odyssey stopping near Aloha Tower  for fueling  apparently on the way to dry dock in Singapore.

 http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/15646719/sea-launch-ocean-odyssey

[Prober]

I noticed the sea launch webcam had stopped updating on October 4, and looked for any news. There was a piece in  Hawaii News Now  about Ocean Odyssey stopping near Aloha Tower  for fueling  apparently on the way to dry dock in Singapore.

 http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/15646719/sea-launch-ocean-odyssey

In for repairs or moving the home port?

[short]

It seems to be for maintenance.  I found reference to it on a Russian blog which referred to a Space News interview with Kjell Karlsen which I was unable to locate.
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8948&start=630&sid=31ebcb61ad0df2462ce4ce96c1e15f09
Sea Launch President Kjell Karlsen said the launch platform will be put into dry dock to replace its engines and clean its pontoons, and is scheduled to return to the company’s Long Beach, Calif., operations center by January. “I look at this as a big non-event,” Karlsen said in a Sept. 12 interview. “It is something that needs to be done every 15 years and will result in the platform’s being more fuel efficient afterward.”