No rocket launches are scheduled as of yet for this year at the spaceport on Kodiak Island, but the head of the Alaska Aerospace Corporation is hoping to capitalize on what’s becoming a national shortage of launch space in the Lower 48.
According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, there were a record 145 orbital missions launched from the U.S. in 2023. That’s a five time increase since 2017.
The bulk of these launches are conducted by the U.S. government and companies like SpaceX or Blue Origin, which had its New Glenn rocket successfully launch from Florida on Jan. 16 for its inaugural flight into orbit.
These entities mainly use three key spaceports: Cape Canaveral in Florida, which is federal, Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, which is also federal, and the SpaceX Starbase in Texas.
Alaska Aerospace’s president and CEO John Oberst, went on NBC’s the Today Show earlier this month on Jan. 14 to discuss what is being described as a “traffic jam” at the country’s spaceports and how Alaska’s facilities could relieve that congestion.
“Now is the time because we offer availability. We can take a customer and get them up on time," Oberst told NBC's The Today Show. "We are not congested.”
At the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska, near Narrow Cape on Kodiak Island, potential customers could launch satellites, support space missions or test government defense projects.
The spaceport is licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration to have up to nine launches per year. That facility’s last successful launch was in 2022. Two other attempts, one each in 2023 and 2024, all failed.
But at this point, Oberst said via email that no commercial launches are on the books yet for the island spaceport. He added that new customers are interested in launching from Kodiak Island. But he said he cannot release any more information until they sign commitments.
California-based companies ABL Space Systems and Astra are already usual customers. SpaceX is not one of those customers and does not launch from the PSCA on Kodiak Island, but the company does have an antenna set up at the facility.
Oberst previously told KMXT that he expects at least a few launches this calendar year, featuring both commercial and government customers.
When a launch is scheduled, a public notice must be given 30 days in advance. For the latest updates on a scheduled launch, go online to akaerospace.com.
