Optional Site Tour -- An exclusive chance to visit two unique sites in Long Beach: 1) The Port of Long Beach's Command and Control Center and 2) the Sea Launch facility

Friday, October 23, 2009 -- approximately 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

The bus will leave from Hotel Maya at 1:00 p.m. on October 23.

One part of the tour will be a visit to The Port of Long Beach's Joint Command and Control Center. The $21 million 25,000 square-foot facility was designed and built to "silver-level" Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. It represents the Port's commitment to state-of-the-art security technology and operational techniques. The site visit will include a presentation by the Port's Security Division and a tour of the facility.

A second part of the afternoon will be a tour of Sea Launch. Sea Launch Company, LLC, is an international partnership of American, Russian, Ukrainian and Norwegian businesses that provides a reliable, cost effective, heavy lift launch service for commercial customers. The tour will include an overview of Sea Launch from its operations center and a tour of the launch pad--Odyssey and ACS Commander--which serves as mission control when at the equator and where the rocket is assembled while home at port. For more information, go to www.sea-launch.com.

There will be a limited number of spots available for these tours and will be on a first come, first served basis. At the present time, it appears that we may be limited to accepting only U.S. citizens on the tours but we will further clarify this limitation.

More information regarding sign ups will be forthcoming.