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Sea Launch Sails to Equator for the Launch of Thuraya-2

LONG BEACH, Calif., May 29, 2003 - The Odyssey Launch Platform and
the Sea Launch Commander departed Sea Launch Home Port this week, for
the launch of the Thuraya-2 satellite. Liftoff is scheduled for June
10, in a 44-minute launch window that opens at 6:56 am PDT (13:56:00
GMT). 

The two Sea Launch vessels will travel from Sea Launch Home Port, in
the Port of Long Beach, to the launch site on the Equator at 154o
West Longitude, where a 72-hour countdown will begin upon arrival.
Once the platform is ballasted to launch depth, the team will perform
final tests on the rocket and spacecraft, and prepare for launch
operations. The 200-foot Zenit-3SL rocket will lift the 5177 kg
(11,413 lb) Thuraya-2 satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit with
a liftoff thrust of 1.6 million lbs. 

Thuraya-2 was built by Boeing [NYSE:BA] for the Thuraya Satellite
Telecommunications Company, of United Arab Emirates, and shipped from
its satellite manufacturing facility in El Segundo, Calif. The
GEO-Mobile (GEM) model satellite uses a Boeing 702 body-stabilized
design and integrates a ground segment and user handsets to provide a
range of cellular-like voice and data services over a vast geographic
region. Sea Launch successfully inserted the first Boeing GEM model,
Thuraya-1, to orbit in October 2000. It is the heaviest commercial
spacecraft launched successfully to date. 

Thuraya-2 will enable Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications to
continue to grow and expand its successful business, providing
communications services to the people of 100 nations in the Middle
East, Europe, North and Central Africa, and South and Central Asia.
Thuraya's advanced satellite telecommunications provides blanket
border-to-border coverage to nearly one third of the globe. Based in
Abu Dhabi, Thuraya offers uninterrupted and seamless services that
link urban and rural areas, and ensure call continuity over regions
with fragmented conventional telecommunication networks.

Sea Launch Company, LLC, headquartered in Long Beach, Calif., is a
world leader in providing heavy-lift commercial launch services.
This multinational partnership offers the most direct and
cost-effective route to geostationary orbit. With the advantage of a
launch site on the Equator, the proven Zenit-3SL rocket can lift a
heavier spacecraft mass or provide longer life on orbit, offering
best value plus schedule assurance. Sea Launch has a current backlog
of 16 firm launch contracts. For additional information, visit the
Sea Launch website at: www.sea-launch.com 

Note to editors: Sea Launch will carry a live satellite feed and
streaming video of the entire mission on the day of launch. We will
post transponder coordinates as well as additional information and
high resolution images on the media site at:
www.boeing.com/nosearch/sealaunch/

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Contact:
Paula Korn
562.499.4729 or 562.254.5684 (mobile)
paula.korn{at}sea-launch.com

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