Keweenaw

Keweenaw Rocket Launch Site. In 1962 the University of Michigan proposed a launch site near the center of the North American continent. This would fill in a gap in the US Army's Meteorological Rocket Network. Following a survey of available sites a location on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Lake Superior was selected. The site was in use from 1964-1971.

The state of Michigan provided a $ 52,850 grant, a local lumber company donated land, and construction of the austere facility began in the summer of 1964. The site was to be mainly used in the winter, in order not to endanger shipping on the lake. The first launches were made from a portable telescoping tower of Arcas rockets in August of the same year. From 1965-1966 the site was used for US Navy experiments with WEBROC. This was a concept of encapsulated Mighty Mouse rockets that would be housed in unattended buoys and launched at intervals to obtain weather information in remote areas of the world's oceans. This was extended to project Nomad in 1968-1969, which tested a ten metric ton buoy with 60 Mighty Mouse launchers. Finally in 1970-1971 NASA launched two Nike-Apache rockets from the site, which was the literal apogee of its use. The University's proposals to NASA to expand use of the site, including using surplus Redstone rockets for orbital launches northwards over Canada, were not funded. The site was never used again.