Soyuz on their way to Kourou

PhysOrg-AFP

A Russian rocket will next year for the first time blast off from a European launch pad in South America, officials said Saturday, as the first rockets headed for the site on board a ship.

"We are in line for the first launch in the second quarter of next year," the chief executive of French aerospace firm Arianespace Jean-Yves Le Gall told AFP.

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Sealaunch goes belly up?

June 23 (Reuters) - Satellite-launch services provider Sea Launch Co along with 5 affiliates filed for Chapter 11 protection, Tuesday. In U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Sea Launch listed assets of up to $500 million and liabilities of more than $1 billion. In Sea Launch Co LLC et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware. No. 09-12153 representatives cited liquidity "concerns" and operational losses.

The Long Beach, California-based company said in the filing it intends to explore the sale of one or more of its divisions, according to Reuters.

Sea Launch, which offerred equatorial launch services on ocean-going platforms and commercial launch services from Baikonur is owned by Boeing, Energia and Norway's Aker ASA, among others.