KIEV (Reuters) - An international consortium led by Boeing Co is to carry out the first commercial launch of a rocket into space from a floating platform on September 28, Ukrainian space authorities said on Tuesday.

``The first commercial launch under the Sea Launch international space program will be September 28,'' said Eduard Kuznetsov, deputy head of Ukraine's National Space Agency.

He told Reuters that a Ukrainian Zenit-3SL booster rocket would blast into space from a platform in the Pacific Ocean, carrying a communication satellite owned by U.S.-based Hughes Electronics, part of General Motors.

The remote launch site avoids risks associated with populated areas and takes advantage of the Earth's high rotational speed at the equator, which allows for heavier payloads, of up to five tons.

``We hope the launch will be successful. It should mark the start of a new era in international space cooperation,'' Kuznetsov said.

The consortium made a successful test flight in March, launching a 200-foot (60 metre) rocket carrying a five-ton dummy payload.

Customers demanded a dummy load be used in the March test after a Zenit rocket crashed in September 1998, destroying 12 Globalstar communications satellites worth $190 million.

The project has been developed over four years at a cost of about $500 million. Boeing owns 40 percent and partners include RSC Energia of Russia and KB Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of Ukraine.