Steuben, a small fishing town in western Washington County, and bluShift Aerospace, based in Brunswick, envision a rocket launch center being built in the town as base of operations for bluShift’s offshore launches.
In a presentation to the town on April 6, 2022, the company projected the center would create 120 to 200 jobs in 5 years. Contract work would also become available for several commercial boat owners. The company indicated a U.S. Route 1 location would be best, but no site had yet been selected.
bluShift reported the center would schedule one or two launches in 2023, gradually rising to eight or nine in 2026 and being capped at 32 annually in a decade. Flights would be scheduled mainly between May and early October. Rockets would be carried 2 to 3 miles offshore on a floating platform and launched within an announced 2-hour launch window that would avoid typical fishing and haul times.