Public access around Kodiak Launch Complex limited

Published 5:53 pm Saturday, September 27, 2014

KODIAK, Alaska — The Army continues to restrict public access to Fossil Beach and other areas around the Kodiak Launch Complex one month after a rocket carrying an experimental strike weapon exploded after takeoff.

Officials said the limits are in place for the public’s safety and to allow debris to be recovered, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported.

An Army detachment that handles explosive ordinance has already detonated pieces of explosive devices and solid rocket propellant found at the site, Army Space and Missile Defense Command spokesman John Cummings said in an email.

A contract will be awarded to a company specializing in recovering debris to do more cleanup work, Cummings said.

When the public may return to Fossil Beach will depend on how soon a contractor is hired and how long it takes to make the site safe for public access, he said.

The rocket that blew up on Aug. 25 was meant to carry a hypersonic glider into the upper atmosphere to test an experimental Army weapons system. Testers destroyed the rocket after they detected an anomaly.

All of the debris landed within the launch complex, Cummings said. Most landed within about 1,000 feet of the launch pad, he said.

A military subcontractor will analyze samples to determine whether any soil or water was contaminated. The analysis will indicate what monitoring and cleanup efforts may be needed.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation would eventually work with information supplied by the Army, said Jade Gamble, a project manager with the agency.

Buildings serving Launch Pad 1 were damaged. Alaska Aerospace Corp., which operates the facility, has no estimate of how long repairs will take.

The repairs won’t affect Alaska Aerospace’s plans to build another launch pad for larger rockets at Narrow Cape, said state Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak.

Stevens, who is a nonvoting ex-officio member of the Alaska Aerospace board of directors, said the state is probably not on the hook to pay for the repairs.

“My belief is that we were not responsible,” Stevens said. “I guess we’ll see that definitively when the study’s all done.”

Annual state subsidies for Alaska Aerospace, which amounted to $6 million in 2013, are set to drop to zero in 2018.