The road to Fossil Beach through the spaceport was closed from 5 p.m. yesterday to 1 a.m. this morning due to what the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska calls “hazardous operations” going on at the spaceport at Narrow Cape. This closure is one of three so far that have been scheduled for this week.
In a notice sent via text message on Friday, Aug. 15, officials with the Kodiak Island spaceport said Monday's road closure is for “everyone’s safety” but did not offer any more details.
Alaska Aerospace’s CEO and President John Oberst confirmed with KMXT that a government customer is on site and that prevents him from sharing more information with the public.
He said it’s likely that more road closure notices will be made in the near future as there is increased activity going on at the spaceport this month.
Oberst told KMXT that the road to Fossil Beach is scheduled to be closed again on Thursday, Aug. 21, from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. and on Friday, Aug. 22, during the same hours as well.
Oberst said the road will be closed just after the boat ramp near Pasagshak State Recreation site before the road goes upwards into the switchbacks, which means that access to Surfer’s Beach will also be blocked off.
Last summer the spaceport closed the road for multiple days while a customer was doing various tests in preparation for a rocket launch.
Alaska Aerospace is required to issue a 30-day notice with the Federal Aviation Administration and impacted parties in the air and sea before a launch can happen. At this time the schedule for the next rocket launch from Kodiak Island’s spaceport has not been publicly announced.
