Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska

The Pacific Spaceport Complex–Alaska (PSCA), located on Kodiak Island, provides responsive, agile, and low-cost access to space for small and light-lift vertical launch rockets. The PSCA has been launching suborbital and orbital rockets since 1998 and is the first FAA licensed commercial spaceport. It is the only commercial vertical orbital spaceport in operation that is not co-located on a Federal range. As one of only four orbital vertical rocket launch sites in the United States, PSCA plays a key role in providing resiliency for US access to space. The PSCA also enjoys the largest launch azimuth range of any spaceport in the US and can access high-inclination, polar and sun-synchronous orbits between 59° and 110° inclination. The State has provided AAC with 3700 acres of land where we have built six launch pads, a Launch Service Structure and a full suite of launch support facilities. The PSCA has everything the Eastern and Western ranges have, on a smaller scale, to include a Launch Control Center, Launch Weather Operations Center, Instrumentation Field. Maintenance Control Facility, Payload Processing Facility, Integration & Processing Facility, Spacecraft & Assemblies Transfer Building and Rocket Motor Storage Facility. Through interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, viewers gain insight into the daily activities and challenges faced by the PSCA team. “Spaceport Somewhere” offers a comprehensive understanding of PSCA's role in advancing space exploration and technology from a location that combines remote beauty with cutting-edge aerospace operations. Poker Flat stands out as the only scientific rocket launching site worldwide that is owned by an academic institution. Managed by the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute through a contract with NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, a component of the Goddard Space Flight Center, Poker Flat is more than a launch pad. It is a hub for a plethora of scientific instruments meticulously designed to probe the mysteries of the arctic atmosphere and ionosphere.