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Beijing upgrades nuclear arsenal By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington Published: May 25 2007 20:21 | Last updated: May 25 2007 20:21 China is modernising and expanding its arsenal of nuclear weapons giving it an enhanced nuclear strike capability, according to a new Pentagon report on the Chinese military. The Pentagon said China was developing mobile, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles in addition to long-range, submarine-launched ballistic missiles that would be deployed on a new fleet of nuclear submarines. ADVERTISEMENT A US defence official said the shift to mobile and sea-based missiles was an effort by the People’s Liberation Army to improve...

A Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket was destroyed at liftoff today, disappearing in a massive fireball that enveloped its floating launch platform in the Pacific Ocean. Lost in the explosion was the commercial NSS 8 telecommunications satellite.

live web cast of the launch beginning at 4:20 PDT at: www.boeing.com/special/sea-launch/current_index_webcast.html

LONG BEACH, Calif., June 23, 2005 — Sea Launch Company today successfully delivered the Intelsat Americas™-8 (IA-8) communications satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. Early data indicate the spacecraft is in excellent condition. A Zenit-3SL vehicle lifted off at 7:03 am PDT ( 14:03 GMT), from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned at 154 degrees West Longitude. All systems performed nominally throughout the flight. The Block DM-SL upper stage inserted the 5,500 kg (12,125 lbs.) satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to a final orbital position of 89 degrees West Longitude. A ground station in Fucino, Italy, acquired the spacecraft’s...

The consortium Sea Launch said it had placed a large US satellite in orbit on Monday, fulfilling the first-ever contract in a cooperation agreement between three of the world's biggest satellite-launch operators. DirecTV-7S, a geostationary satellite designed to beam services to 60 local markets in the United States, was taken aloft at 1242 GMT by a Ukrainian-made Zenit-3SL rocket, launched from a mobile platform in international waters in the Pacific, Sea Launch said on its website. "A ground station in Weilheim, Germany, acquired the spacecraft signal. All systems are operating normally," Sea Launch said. The 5.5-tonne satellite, built for the...