There are plans underway in Michigan to create the first spaceport in the Midwest. The Michigan Aerospace Manufacturers Association, also known as MAMA, has announced a plan to create a spaceport with three potential sites, including a vertical launch site in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on an estate known as Granot Loma which sits on the edge of Lake Superior.

However, Residents who live near that proposed vertical launch site at Granot Loma are concerned about environmental effects to the area and what it would mean to have a commercial spaceflight industry in their backyards. 

We spoke with David Rompf, a New Yorker contributor who wrote about the Michigan Launch Initiative in his recent article, “The Plan to Make Michigan the Next Space State.” We also spoke with local resident who is concerned about the location of the proposed launch site, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, near Lake superior, Dennis Ferraro, the President of the nonprofit Citizens For a Safe and Clean Lake Superior.