CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Here's the official picture from Sea Launch showing the blast off of their Zenit 3SL rocket last Wednesday.

Liftoff of the three-stage rocket was at 12:03 a.m. EDT (0403) GMT from the Odyssey Launch Platform floating on the equator in the Pacific Ocean east of Christmas Island. The rocket carried the dual-named Galaxy 13/Horisons 1 communications satellite.

This was the third Sea Launch shot during 2003 and officials hope to stage one more mission by the end of the year. The Odyssey platform and the Sea Launch Commander control ship are now enroute back to their homeport of Long Beach, Calif.

The innovative system allows Sea Launch to take full advantage of the Earth's rotation and give their rocket and satellite an extra kick of speed on the way into orbit.

Sea Launch is a consortium of companies that include Boeing of Seattle, RSC-Energia of Moscow, Kvaerner of Oslo and SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.

launch story:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/zenit_launch_031001.html

launch forecast page:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/launches/launch_schedule.html

Credit: Sea Launch