From the Last Frontier to the Final Frontier: it's a blast in Kodiak.

• Author: Heinze, Cheryll
• Position: Kodiak Launch Complex - Cover story

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With unobstructed downrange trajectories to the south coupled with a wide-launch azimuth (in aerial navigation, azimuth is defined as the direction of flight as taken from the location of the aircraft and is measured in degrees), Alaska can claim the prize location for launching polar-orbiting missions. Nested on 3,717 acres amid roaming buffalo lies one of our country's premiere launch facilities, the Kodiak Launch Complex. The nation's first Federal Aviation Administration-licensed, non-federally owned commercial spaceport, KLC is owned and operated by Alaska Aerospace Development Corp. The spaceport was sown from a $15.6-million seed grant from Alaska to an accrued launch revenue of $93.5 million and $139 million in capital investments. It has a 100 percent success rate, and is the only launch-on-demand spaceport in the United States.

We think of the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral and Houston Mission Control, but do we think of Alaska as a strategic state-of-the-industry spaceport? Bold new ideas have caused KLC to make an indelible mark in the world of spaceports, launch facilities and in the halls of the Pentagon.

AADC, under the dynamic leadership of Chief Executive Officer Dale Nash, brings cutting-edge capabilities to KLC.

"Offering responsive scheduling and cutting-edge engineering, we have significantly raised the standard of our independently managed launch facility," states Nash, as he portrays his goal of diversification and growth. Nash, named CEO in 2008, brings to AADC more than 25 years of aerospace experience, including United Space Alliance program manager on the winning Lockheed Orion team and director of both the space shuttle launch operations and ground support at the Kennedy Space Center.

Paralleling Nash's vision of growth and diversification, retired Lt. Gen. Tom Case, U.S. Air Force, was recruited as president and chief operating officer to help position AADC for a vital role in the growth of space-based systems in Alaska and the nation. With his sterling reputation and credentials and as a highly regarded community leader in Alaska, Case brings 33 years of aerospace experience, including service as the senior military commander in Alaska, vice commander of the Pacific Command. Case also served as dean of the College of Business and Public Policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

THE COMPLEX

Bordering the Pacific Ocean on the aptly named Emerald Isle, Kodiak, the complex lies at...