The president of Sea Launch Co. said he expects Boeing Co. to drop all or most of its ownership of the international partnership, which is reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Kjell Karlsen said he doesn't expect Boeing to commit any more capital to the venture, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

"I would like to see Boeing being part of the new Sea Launch, but it's more likely they will work in a supplier capacity and not in an ownership role," Karlsen told the newspaper.

Boeing spokesman Joe Tedino declined to speculate on the company's future with Sea Launch.

Chicago-based Boeing owns 40 percent of the company. Its partners are RSC Energia of Moscow, SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of Ukraine and Aker ASA Group of Norway.

Home-ported in Long Beach, Calif., Sea Launch uses a self-propelled rocket platform and command ship to launch heavy satellites into geostationary orbit from the equatorial Pacific, where the physics of the location maximize a booster's lift capacity.

The company also has begun conducting land launches from Kazakhstan for medium-weight satellites.

Sea Launch filed for Chapter 11 in June after an arbitrator ordered it to pay Hughes Network Systems $52 million in a dispute over a contract cancellation. Continued...