Julie Johnsson of ChicagoTribune.com has written a piece that deals with Boeing and how the Chicago-based aerospace giant may face nearly a half-billion dollars in liabilities related to its 40 percent ownership stake in Sea Launch LLC, a satellite venture that filed for bankruptcy on Monday.

Boeing had guaranteed $448 million in loans for Sea Launch, a venture partly owned by Russian, Norwegian, and Ukrainian companies that launched rockets from sea as well as from Kazakhstan. But by seeking Chapter 11 protection, Sea Launch triggered covenants that make the loans immediately due and payable, Boeing said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Despite cutting-edge technology that enabled satellite launches close to the equator, Sea Launch struggled to find a working business model in an industry glutted with capacity. Sea Launch's prospects further dimmed after it became enmeshed in a legal battle with Hughes Network Systems LLC after a rocket blew up on an ocean launch platform on January 30, 2007, bankruptcy filings show. The accident severely damaged the launch platform, forcing Sea Launch to cancel a Hughes' launch slated for May 2007 and prompting a lengthy dispute between the two companies.

In March, an international arbitrator awarded Hughes $52.3 million in expenses related to the imbroglio, a finding that would have been enforced on Monday, had Sea Launch not filed for bankruptcy. According to Ms. Johnsson, Boeing should be able to offset some of its loss by collecting obligations from other Sea Launch partners. As a result, Boeing said it expects to record a $35 million pretax charge to earnings in the second quarter of 2009. But it warned that the charge could balloon to $478 million if efforts to secure reimbursement failed.