Last night just after 10 p.m. a rocket was launched from the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska on Kodiak Island, at Narrow Cape. Residents from around the island and even elsewhere in the state took to social media to share videos and reactions to the launch, which was not publicly announced.
Travis Amodo posted a video Thursday night on Facebook from Akhiok showing a rocket flying across the sky at 10:09 p.m.
Dozens of people from Homer to Kenai and elsewhere in the state commented on Amodo’s post, some noting that there was no advanced notice given to the public about the launch and many questioned where the rocket came from in the first place.
This morning on Aug. 22, the Alaska Aerospace Corporation confirmed in a press release that a successful government rocket launch occurred from the spaceport on Kodiak Island Thursday night.
The statement did not say what the purpose of the launch was or anything more about the payload.
An online blog that tracks satellites and analyses missile tests from the Netherlands, called SatTrackCam, theorized that the launch was a hypersonic missile test.
A similar government hypersonic test failed at the Kodiak Island spaceport in October of 2021. The Defense Department official told Defense News that the rocket made it off the launch pad but the booster system failed in that instance.
Based on navigational warnings issued by the Maritime Safety Office this week, the rocket launch included hazard areas around Kodiak Island, the Gulf of Alaska and the North Pacific near the Marshall Islands.
CEO and President of the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, John Oberst, told KMXT earlier this week the road to Fossil Beach was going to be closed on Monday, Thursday and Friday evenings due to “hazardous operations” going on at the spaceport.
But the road closure notice for Friday night was canceled this morning after the rocket launch took place.
Oberst previously said that it’s likely more road closures will be announced in the near future. As of today, Aug. 22, the corporation has not released any public notices about upcoming road closures or launches from the spaceport.
