Members of the Sea Launch Failure Review Oversight Board met the week of April 16 to hear briefings from the independent teams that are investigating the March 12 launch failure. “We continue to find agreement in our findings of the root cause and effects of the anomaly,” said Jim Maser, chief Sea Launch engineer and board chairman. In May, the Russian and Ukrainian partners will present their full report to the board in Moscow.

Liftoff failure of the third flight of Sea Launch, carrying the ICO Global Communications [ICO] maiden bird ICO F1, occurred several seconds into the flight on March 12. The anomaly occurred during the second stage operation, prior to reaching orbital velocity. Data review indicates the root cause of the failure is related to a ground support equipment software error.

Board members will present their findings in the next few weeks.