Kodiak Credit - © Mark Wade

In January 1998, the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation began building a commercial spaceport at Narrow Cape on Kodiak Island, about 400 km south of Anchorage and 40 km southwest of the City of Kodiak. Kodiak Island was advertised as one of the best locations in the world for polar launch operations, providing a wide launch azimuth and unobstructed downrange flight path.

The Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC) was designed by BRPH Architects - Engineers Inc. of Melbourne, FL. It provided all-weather, in-door processing adaptable to all small rocket launch vehicles. The Kodiak Launch Complex was the only commercial launch range in the United States not co-located with a federal facility. The launch pad could accommodate Castor 120 size vehicles and smaller . The launch pad flame trench was rated up to 500 metric tons thrust. The pad built for all-solid vehicles but plumbed for possible liquid fueled vehicles.

The active portion of the facility was Kodiak Launch Complex covered 11 hectares, divided among four sites: the Launch Control and Management Center (LCC), the Payload Processing Facility (PPF), the Integration and Processing Facility (IPF)/Spacecraft Assemblies Transfer Facility (SCAT), and the Launch Pad and Service Structure (LP1).

KLC's location combined with low-cost operations were promoted for launching telecommunications, remote sensing, and space science payloads of up to 3500 kg into low earth polar and Molniya orbits. Through an agreement with the State Division of Land, AADC was granted a thirty year lease of 1200 hectares at Narrow Cape with an option for a second thirty year term. On November 5, 1998, the USAF conducted the launch of the ait (atmospheric interceptor technology) suborbital rocket, marking the first launch from KLC. The first orbital launch of an Athena-1 came on September 30, 2001.

In 2005 AADC purchased two Mobile Telemetry Systems to augment the primary range safety system. A second suborbital launch pad, motor storage facility and improved fiber-optic connectivity to the continental US were planned. Paving of improved roads was scheduled for completion in 2007.

Kodiak Island had approximately 15,000 residents, with roughly half living within the City of Kodiak. A broad range of skilled services was available on the island. Resident companies included a sophisticated local telephone exchange, an island-wide electrical utility, a cable television company, several grocery store chains, a highly skilled construction workforce and other skilled technicians.

The weather on Kodiak Island was similar to that of the northwest region of the U.S. with an average rainfall comparable to Cape Canaveral in Florida. Because of warm Japanese currents, the climate of Kodiak Island is more moderate than its northern latitude would otherwise dictate. Kodiak had a yearly mean temperature of 4 deg C, and in only three months of the year did the normal temperatures fall below 0 deg C. Visibility and prevailing winds compare favorably with those at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Kodiak was one of the busiest fishing ports in the U.S., and developed a sophisticated infrastructure to support that industry. The island had three commercial dock facilities. In addition to barge service, the dock facilities could safely handle 30 metric ton containers, lift off up to 70 metric tons and process roll-on/roll-off vehicles. Kodiak had a state-operated regional airport with daily passenger and cargo jet service and had accommodated C-141 and C-5 military transports. Kodiak Island was home to the largest Coast Guard support center in the U.S. and had a full complement of ocean patrol vessels. The Coast Guard Air Station operated several HC-130 aircraft and HH-60 and HH-65 helicopters.

1998 November 6 - 01:32 GMT - Launch Vehicle: ait. ait-1 test Agency: USAF/OSC. Apogee: 715 km (444 mi).

1999 September 15 - 21:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: ait. Castor-M57A1 ait-2 Test mission Agency: USAF SMC. Apogee: 1,060 km (650 mi).

2001 March 19 - Launch Vehicle: Aries. Aries QRLV-1 Target mission Agency: USAF SMC. Apogee: 163 km (101 mi).

2001 September 30 - 02:40 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Athena. Athena-1 LM-001 Starshine 3 Mass: 67 kg (147 lb). Spacecraft: Starshine. Agency: U.S. Air Force (U.S.). Perigee: 472 km (293 mi). Apogee: 472 km (293 mi). Inclination: 67.00 deg. Possibly last Athena flight. Launch delayed from September 1, 18, 22, 23, 25, 28. This was the first orbital launch from Alaska's Kodiak Island launch site (Foul weather and auroral conditions had delayed the launch many times) . The Lockheed Martin Athena-1's Orbit Adjust Module's (OAM) four MR-107 hydrazine engines fired for 12 minutes to put the payloads in a 237 x 815 km transfer orbit. After a coast to apogee above East Africa, a second burn at 0337 GMT circularized the orbit. USAF Space Test Program satellites Picosat, Sapphire and PCSat were deployed into an 790 x 800 km x 67 deg orbit between 0344 and 0352 GMT; the OAM then made a perigee lowering burn to a 470 x 800 km orbit. Another burn half an orbit later put OAM in a 467 x 474 km orbit, from wish Starshine 3 was deployed. Finally, the OAM made a perigee-lowering depletion burn which left in a 215 x 403 km x 67.2 deg orbit from which would reenter in a few months.

Starshine-3 was a 90 kg, 0.9 m geodetic sphere that was to be observed by students. The NASA satellite was basically a passive light-reflecting sphere, consisting of 1,500 student-built mirrors (polished by kindergarten and grade school students from many countries) and 31 laser "retroreflectors". A few solar cells provide enough power to send a beacon at 145.825 MHz every minute. Ham operators around the world were expected to obtain signal strengths from which the decay (due to magnetic torque) of its spin rate could be determined. The project was managed by NASA GSFC and Starshine was built by the Naval Research Laboratory.

2001 November 9 - 18:12 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Polaris. STARS M-4 WCRRF FAILURE: Failure. BMDO Radar Target mission Agency: USA SMDC. Apogee: 10 km (6 mi).

2002 April 24 - Launch Vehicle: Aries. Aries QRLV-2 Target mission Agency: USAF SMC. Apogee: 160 km (90 mi).

2004 December 15 - 04:45 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Polaris. STARS M-5 IFT-13c Target mission Agency: USA SMDC. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi). Target for ballistic missile defence intercept test. Launch successful, but anti-ballistic missile that was to intercept it never left silo. Impacted in Pacific Ocean. Delayed from January, August, November, December 9 and 12

2005 February 14 - 06:22 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Polaris. STARS M-6 IFT-14 Target Agency: USA SMDC. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi).

2006 February 23 - 16:09 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Polaris. STARS M-7 FT04-1 GMD FT04-1 Target Agency: USA SMDC. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi).

2006 September 1 - 17:22 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Polaris. STARS M-8 GMD FTG-02 Target Agency: USA SMDC. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi).

2007 May 25 - 14:15 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Polaris. STARS M-9 FAILURE: Failure. GMD FTG-03 Target Agency: USA SMDC. Apogee: 40 km (24 mi).