Ukraine to build floating spacecraft launch platform
The Ukrainian Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant or Yuzhmash started creating a spacecraft launch floating platform in Kherson, stated the plant’s General Director, Serhiy Voyt, Ukrinform reports.
“Ukraine does not have its own Cosmodrome (spacecraft launch site) but Yuzhmash itself specializes in manufacturing of rockets and is involved in foreign economic activity with 23 countries, including Europe. We should have our own platform for launching spacecraft and it can be created in the Kherson region,” Voyt announced. He said that he met with workers of the Kherson state plant Pallada that produces floating structures and that they are ready to take part in the project .
In April 2018, the company S7 Space closed a deal to purchase a floating spacecraft launch site called Sea Launch. Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, Boeing, Norwegian Kvaerner (now Aker Solutions), Yuzhnoye Design Office and Yuzhmash participated in its creation. S7 Space intends to compete with Elon Musk's company, SpaceX.