spacetoday.net: Sea Launch to lay off staff during "manifest gap"

Posted: Mon, Aug 25, 2014, 5:26 PM ET (2126 GMT)
Zenit-3SL launch of Eutelsat 3B (Sea Launch)

Commercial launch provider Sea Launch will lay off some of its employees and take its vessels out of service temporarily as it deals with a gap in its launch manifest expected to last through 2015. The company announced Friday plans to lay off about a quarter of its staff, at both its Swiss headquarters as well as its home port of Long Beach, California. The company said it would take its floating launch platform and command ship, both based in Long Beach, out of service temporarily as well. Sea Launch has no missions on its current manifest through 2015, although the company said it would be able to start stepping up launch activity again as soon as mid-2015 if there was demand. Sea Launch performed its first launch since an early 2013 launch failure in late May, successfully placing a Eutelsat satellite in orbit.