Long Beach (US): A Boeing-built mobile voice and data services satellite was placed in orbit by a rocket launched from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean.

The Thuraya-3 satellite took off at 3:49 a.m. PST (1619 IST) on yesterday morning from a spot on the equator as part of a mission to expand the Abu Dhabi-based Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co's coverage in the Asia Pacific region.

The launch will allow the company to begin major expansion plans in the first quarter of 2008,Thuraya CEO Yousuf Al Sayed said in a statement.

The company, founded in 1997,serves 110 countries.

The launch by California-based Sea Launch Co was "perfect," said Sea Launch spokeswoman Paula Korn.

Unusually strong currents that affected Sea Launch's oceangoing launch platform foiled the first attempt in November. The self-propelled platform and the command ship had to return to home port in California, resupply and sail back to the launch site.

The Sea Launch system takes advantage of a principle of physics that allows a rocket launched at the equator to carry a heavier payload into orbit than it could from elsewhere on the Earth's surface.

The mission was the first for the Sea Launch international partnership since an explosion moments after ignition in January 2007 destroyed a satellite intended for Netherlands-based SES New Skies.

An investigation found the blast was caused by debris in turbopump in the rocket's main engine section.

Sea Launch is owned by Boeing Co, RSC-Energia of Moscow, Aker ASA of Oslo, Norway, and SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.

Source : PTI