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PHOTO BY CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL/CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
CTY SEA LAUNCH - The Sea Launch is currently docked at Pier 11 near Aloha Tower. The Sea Launch is mobile sea platform used to launch rockets with payloads of communications satellites. Honolulu Star-Advertiser photo by Cindy Ellen Russell
PHOTO BY CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL/CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
CTY SEA LAUNCH - The Sea Launch is currently docked at Pier 11 near Aloha Tower. The Sea Launch is mobile sea platform used to launch rockets with payloads of communications satellites. Honolulu Star-Advertiser photo by Cindy Ellen Russell
PHOTO BY CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL/CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
CTY SEA LAUNCH - The Sea Launch is currently docked at Pier 11 near Aloha Tower. The Sea Launch is mobile sea platform used to launch rockets with payloads of communications satellites. Honolulu Star-Advertiser photo by Cindy Ellen Russell
The Sea Launch Odyssey, a huge ocean-going rocket platform used to launch satellites from the equator, is docked at Honolulu Harbor until Friday afternoon.
The converted ocean oil rig is about 213 feet high — taller than Aloha Tower — 436 feet wide and 220 feet long.
The Odyssey platform successfully launched a European broadcast satellite on Sept. 24 and is in Honolulu for refueling and restocking, said Peter Steier, the vice president of sales and marketing for Sea Launch. It was the company’s first launch since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The vessel, based in Long Beach, Calif., arrived in Honolulu Wednesday morning at Pier 11 and will leave Friday afternoon for southeast Asia, where it will be drydocked for maintenance. It last docked in Honolulu in December 2007.
The Odyssey is not open to the public, but can be seen from most areas around the harbor.
