Sea Launch netted a contract last week to send an unspecified AsiaSat communications satellite to orbit between 2012 and 2014, strengthening the company's backlog as it hopes to emerge from bankruptcy later this year.

File photo of a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket blasting off from the Odyssey platform. Credit: Sea Launch

AsiaSat will assign a satellite to the launch slot at a later date, according to a Sea Launch statement released Monday. The spacecraft will launch on a Zenit 3SL rocket from the Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean.

"We are very pleased that we have arrived at this agreement, which will be beneficial for both Sea Launch and AsiaSat," said Kjell Karlsen, president and general manager of Sea Launch. "We're looking forward to successfully executing this mission with AsiaSat and we appreciate the confidence and trust that AsiaSat has placed with Sea Launch."

AsiaSat currently has one satellite under construction at Space Systems/Loral for launch in late 2011. The firm is leading satellite operator in the Asia-Pacific region.

"We are excited to take part in the future growth of this important satellite operator," Karlsen said in a statement.

The AsiaSat deal adds another contract to Sea Launch's backlog, which was nearly emptied in 2009 as the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Satellite operators moved more than a half-dozen payloads to rival Proton and Ariane rockets due to fears of lengthy launch delays on Sea Launch.

Intelsat and Eutelsat both moved some of their satellites to other launch providers, but the companies kept their contracts with Sea Launch and vowed to assign new payloads to the Zenit rocket.

AsiaSat moved their newest satellite from Sea Launch to the Proton rocket. AsiaSat 5 successfully blasted off in August 2009.

"We are pleased to conclude a launch service contract with Sea Launch to support the launch of one of our future satellites," said Peter Jackson, chief executive officer of Hong Kong-based AsiaSat. "The Zenit 3SL launch vehicle is based on a mature, flight-proven design. We look forward to a satisfactory launch service provided by this highly reliable launch system."

Sea Launch now has four announced missions planned after the AsiaSat agreement, but there are more launch deals waiting to be unveiled after the company emerges from bankruptcy, according to Paula Korn, a Sea Launch spokesperson.

The pending announcements were delayed at the request of Sea Launch's customers, Korn said in an e-mail.

Sea Launch expects to win approval of its plan of reorganization in a Delaware bankruptcy court hearing July 27, the statement said.

Energia Overseas Ltd., a subsidiary of the Russian aerospace giant Energia, plans to purchase 85 percent of the stock in Sea Launch for $140 million in cash. The unsecured creditors, or firms that acquired a stake in Sea Launch in exchange for owed debts, will collectively hold 15 percent ownership in the reorganized launch business, according to court filings.

In addition to the stock purchase, Energia is providing $200 million in working capital to Sea Launch.

Sea Launch is on track to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy by October, the company's statement said.

The resumption of normal operations will lead to a flight of the company's Land Launch subsidiary in the first quarter of 2011. The return-to-flight launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan will haul the Intelsat 18 communications satellite to orbit.

Sea Launch's next flight from the ocean-based Odyssey launch platform is scheduled for the third quarter of 2011, Korn said.

Karlsen said in a May interview that the Sea Launch mission in mid-2011 would likely carry a Eutelsat or Intelsat communications satellite.