The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will host two public meetings to provide further information regarding its draft Environmental Impact Statement for its Sounding Rocket Program conducted at the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Poker Flat Research Range. The purpose of the meetings is to provide an overview of the draft EIS and the process in which it was created and then gather input from the public and government representatives. All interested parties are invited to attend. The meetings will be held in Anchorage and Fairbanks next week.

On Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, the first public meeting will be held in Anchorage at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska Region Office at 1011 East Tudor Road. The meeting will run from 6 to 8 p.m. 

The Fairbanks meeting will take place on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Bureau of Land Management Fairbanks District Office at 1150 University Avenue.

Prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, the draft EIS evaluates the environmental impacts of five alternate means for continuing sounding rocket launches at the research range. Printed copies of the draft EIS are available for review at the following locations:

Alaska Resources Library & Information Services, Anchorage, Alaska

Z.J. Loussac Public Library, Anchorage, Alaska

Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Noel Wien Library, Fairbanks, Alaska

Juneau Public Library, Juneau, Alaska

NASA Headquarters Library, Washington, D.C.

Times and locations of additional meetings, particularly those with
interior villages, will be coordinated with the respective governing
bodies and published locally as they are scheduled.

Owned and operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks since 1968,
Poker Flat Research Range is a launch range for NASA sounding rockets
carrying scientific instruments to regions of the upper atmosphere and
space. As the only high-latitude range in the United States capable of
supporting launch trajectories toward the north, many of the rocket
experiments are dedicated to the continued research of the aurora
borealis and other upper atmospheric phenomena.                                   

Requests for copies, as well as questions or comments on the draft EIS, may be submitted to:

Joshua A. Bundick
Manager, Poker Flat Research Range EIS
NASA Wallops
Flight Facility (Code 250.W)
Wallops Island, VA 23337

Phone: (757)
824-2319
Fax: (757) 824-1819

Email: Joshua [dot] A [dot] Bundick [at] nasa [dot] gov

For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation for the
meetings, please call (757) 824-2319. A toll-free telephone number,
(800) 521-3415, is also available for those outside the local calling
area. When using the toll-free number, please follow the menu options
and enter the pound sign (#) followed by extension numbers "2319."

For more information about NASA's Sounding Rockets Program, click here. 

For more information about Poker Flat Research Range, click here.