MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The Ukrainian crisis will not impact this year's schedule for the launches of Zenit rockets, which are manufactured in Ukraine, from a floating platform in the equatorial area of the Pacific Ocean as part of the Sea Launch program, Sergei Gugkayev, executive director of Swiss-based company Sea Launch AG, told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.
"All the spare parts for a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle, which is expected to blast off as part of the Sea Launch program's first mission in 2014 on April 16, have already been delivered to the base port in Long Beach [the U.S.]. Sea Launch AG also has all of the components for another launch vehicle, which will be delivered to the base port at a later date this year," he said.