Spaceflight Now recently had the pleasure of visiting Sea Launch's Home Port in Long Beach, California. The June 23 tour of the Sea Launch Commander assembly ship and the Odyssey launch platform occurred as an international team of technicians and engineers readied the next Zenit 3SL rocket for its summer mission.

Here we present a series of panoramas that capture the remarkable blend of marine vessels and space hardware that come together to place commercial communications satellites into space.

Photo credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now

An overview of Sea Launch shows the satellite processing building to the left, with the Commander multi-purpose assembly and control ship and the Odyssey launch platform docked at Home Port. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   Looking from aft of both vessels, the launch pad's exhaust deflection device is visible on Odyssey. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   Inside the Commander's assembly bay, the lower two stages of the Ukrainian-built Zenit 3SL rocket awaits attachment of the Russian Block DM-SL upper stage for the EchoStar 11 satellite launch. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   Just days after our visit, the Commander pulled in front of Odyssey to transfer the fully assembled Zenit rocket into the platform's hangar, visible behind the large Sea Launch sign. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   The hangar atop the Odyssey houses the Zenit rocket during transit to the launch site. The erector arm used to slide the rocket horizontally to the launch pad and hoist it upright can be seen here. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   The day before a liftoff, the Zenit rocket will be rolled out of the hangar and erected onto its pad. In this view from Odyssey's main deck, the rocket would move from left to right and then the white umbilical arm now resting horizontally would be raised and attached. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   During a countdown at sea, the Commander houses the launch control center, plus critical tracking and communications equipment needed to follow the rocket's ascent toward space. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   Logos celebrating past Sea Launch missions are seen in this view looking out the Commander's forward windows. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   The Payload Processing Facility was built at Home Port to prepare satellites for launch. The spacecraft are received from their manufacturing plants, undergo final testing, fueled with propellant and encapsulated in the nose cone before being moved to the Commander for attachment to the Zenit rocket. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   In addition to the payload building, Sea Launch uses former Navy facilities for office space and rocket storage. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   Standing aboard the Commander looking across to Odyssey you can see the platform's heavy-duty yellow crane, the white fuel-holding tanks and at the far right atop the hangar resides a helicopter landing pad. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now   One additional view of the massive Odyssey platform, a former Norweigian oil-drilling rig that was converted to serve as a floating pad for launching rockets into space. Click here for larger image. Credit: Chris Miller/Spaceflight Now