S7 can sell the floating cosmodrome "Marine Start"

The company S7 can sell the swimming spacesmodrome "Marine Start" of one of the Russian state corporations, and the parties are currently negotiating the transaction. It is reported by TASS with reference to two sources.

According to one of the interlocutors of the agency, "taking into account the state of the platform and command ship after dismantling the equipment by the American side, as well as in connection with the need to create the cost of implementing the project from zero of the coastal infrastructure as extremely high, and the private airline, taking into account financial losses from pandemia, simply does not have money for it."

Recall that the "Marine Start" complex was created to provide services for launching spacecraft for various purposes from the mobile starting starting platform for naval orbit. The first launch from the platform was carried out in 1999, and by 2014 36 spacecraft were launched from the platform. At the same time, three launches were recognized as unsuccessful.

S7 signed a contract for the purchase of a floating marine start -up cosmodrome with a group of SEA Launch companies (a subsidiary of RSC Energia) in September 2016. The agreement provided for the purchase of the SEA Launch Commander command vessel, the ODISSEY launch platform and the ground infrastructure in California. The Russian corporation also signed an energy agreement with the RSC with RSC, which provides for joint work to resume the operation of the "sea start" and to create transport infrastructure in space.

In December 2019, S7 Space received permission from the American authorities to relocate the starting platform and the command ship of the floating cosmodrome to the Far East.

In the spring, the "sea start" was relocated: the assembly and command vessel arrived in Primorye on March 17 and moored at the pier of the Slavic shipyard after passing customs and sanitary procedures, and the Odyssey launcher arrived in the port on March 30. It was assumed that the complex will be repaired and reconstructed.