KODIAK, Alaska–In a place best known for fishing and timber, credit unions here were updated on a local activity that is far less known: rocket launches.
Kodiak Island, which hosted the Alaska CU League’s annual meeting this year, is also home to Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska, which is one of four licensed orbital vertical launch facilities in the U.S. It sits 3,700 acres of public land at Narrow Cape on Kodiak Island. It also has a deep water, ice-free port year round.
Credit unions were given an overview of the facility by John Oberst, president and CEO Alaska Aerospace Corp, which is a state-owned company that provides launch services. Oberst is a retired colonel in the Air Force who also spent 20 years with the Alaska Air National Guard.
National Space Day
By coincidence Oberst was speaking on National Space Day and he explained the Alaska facility typically does launches of rockets between 100 to 200 feet tall, which he said still represent “significant” payloads. The facility primarily launches commercial satellites, but it has also military launches. Some of the satellites it launches are as “small as keyboards,” he said.
Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska did its first launch in 1998, and has overseen 31 launches to date. In 2014 there was launch “anomaly” involving an explosion that resulted in considerable damage to the facility. It has since been rebuilt.
Other Data Points
Other data points shared about the complex included:
- It is not located on federal land
- It has eight full-time employees, most of whom are based in Anchorage.
- Its Aurora Launch Services subsidiary employs 20 full-timers and 10 part-timers.
- It launches over the Pacific, as rocket launches over land are not permitted in the U.S.
- It generates $15 million to $20 million in annual revenues.