Free Republic

Archaeologists with the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository have uncovered fragments of woven grass artifacts estimated to be 3,000 years old. The rare finds were made on August 18, 2023, during excavations of an ancestral sod house on the shore of Karluk Lake, Kodiak Island, Alaska sponsored by Koniag. The fragments, which appear to be pieces of mats, are the oldest well-documented examples of Kodiak Alutiiq/Sugpiaq weaving. A unique set of circumstances preserved them. Alutiiq Museum Curator of Archaeology Patrick Saltonstall explained."We were excavating a sod house beside Karluk Lake as part of a broader study to understand how Alutiiq...

An Alaskan spaceport will host the first launch of a rocket developed by a stealthy startup company as soon as next week, spaceport officials confirmed March 20. Alaska Aerospace Corp., which operates Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska (PSCA) on Kodiak Island, said the launch period for the flight of the unidentified vehicle runs from March 27 to April 6. It did not specify when during the day the launch would take place. A “Local Notice to Mariners” issued by the U.S. Coast Guard March 14 included a notice about a rocket launch planned from PSCA, giving a window of March 26...

WASHINGTON -- A test of the national ballistic missile defense system failed Monday when an interceptor missile didn't get out of its silo, the second failure in as many months. The failed test came less than a week after North Korea declared it had nuclear weapons, giving new attention to a possible threat from that nation. An initial test evaluation blamed equipment at a Pacific island site rather than the interceptor itself. If that assessment bears out, it would come as a relief to defense officials because it would mean no new problems had been discovered with the missile....