Sea Launch Names Jim Maser as New President

The Sea Launch Company’s
Board of Directors has named James G. Maser as the company’s new President and
General Manager, effective Sept. 10.

Until his new assignment as President, Maser served as Chief Systems
Engineer for Sea Launch, focusing his efforts on systems integration,
recurring engineering process improvement, mission integration cycle time
reduction, vehicle performance increase and mission assurance processes.
In
four months, he completed an assignment as the Chairman of the Sea Launch
Failure Review Oversight Board, which ultimately led to a return-to-flight
status after the failure of the ICO-1 mission in March 2000.
The record-
breaking turnaround was demonstrated by the successful PAS-9 campaign in July
2000, which has since been followed by three additional successes.
Maser has
appointed Kirk Pysher, previously Deputy Chief Systems Engineer, to succeed
him as Chief Systems Engineer.

Maser, an aerospace engineer with extensive experience in program
management, design and engineering leadership, came to Sea Launch in 1998 from
the Boeing Delta and Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle programs.
Before
joining McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) in the 1980s, he was a research fellow
at the NASA/Lewis Research Center.
The American Association for Aeronautics
and Astronautics honored Maser with the coveted George M. Low Space
Transportation Award in Sept. 2000.
He has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in
Engineering from the University of Akron as well as a Master’s Degree in
Business Administration from the University of California/Los Angeles.

Maser replaces Will Trafton, who has been appointed President of Boeing
Launch Services, Inc. (BLS), and Vice President and Deputy General Manager for
Boeing Expendable Launch Systems in Huntington Beach, Calif.
The newly formed
BLS will provide marketing and sales services for both the Sea Launch and
Delta launch vehicles.
Trafton will continue in his role as Chairman of the
Board of Directors of Sea Launch Company, LLC.

Sea Launch Company, LLC, based in Long Beach, Calif., provides reliable,
cost effective, heavy lift launch services for commercial satellite customers.
The international members include the Boeing Commercial Space Company (U.S.),
the Anglo-Norwegian Kvaerner Group (Norway), RSC Energia (Russia) and SDO
Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash (Ukraine).
Established in 1995, Sea Launch has a current
backlog of 17 firm launch contracts.
As the world’s only services provider
launching from the Equator, Sea Launch offers the optimal starting point for
spacecraft heading for geostationary orbit.
For additional information, visit
the Sea Launch website at: www.sea-launch.com