Under the familiar tones of famous sci-fi theme songs, Presque Isle took its next step Friday toward becoming a national figure in the growing race to monetize space.
In a hangar along the Presque Isle International Airport runway, city and state officials held a groundbreaking ceremony for what will become the 72-acre John F. Kennedy Aerospace Research Park.
“[This] really marks the effort to bring the new space economy to our great state,” Maine DOT Director of Aviation Alan Lambert said.
It’s an economy Lambert said could add over $1 billion to Maine’s GDP.
Around 50 community leaders and residents attended the event, which featured live performances from the Central Aroostook Community Band.
The airport’s general aviation area has housed VALT Enterprizes, a company that develops hypersonic delivery systems, since 2021. The research park is designed to attract similar aerospace investment to northern Maine, where VALT has found success.
“It’s very important to us to get this groundbreaking off,” VALT President Karl Hoose said. “We’re going to be the first anchor tenant.”
The project carries a nearly $6 million price tag, $4.5 million of which will be covered by a grant awarded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration in 2022. The rest will be met by $1.1 million in local funds, the administration said at the time, adding the park could create or retain up to 140 jobs.
The airport will start next week to solicit engineering bids to plan the park, airport director Scott Wardwell said. Once it’s complete, VALT will move into a new building within the park that will allow it to expand its capabilities, alongside buildings that will house future tenants.
Wardwell stressed the high degree of planning going into the construction process.
“One of the things that we want to make sure of is that we use the funds that you all entrusted in us the best way possible,” he said. “One of the ways to do that is to have a sound plan, a plan that everybody is familiar with and can see the direction that we’re going.”
Naming the park after Kennedy, the president who escalated the space race in 1961 by boldly announcing the goal to put a man on the moon, was a choice made by the Presque Isle Air Museum committee.
The Presque Isle City Council approved that name during Wednesday’s monthly meeting, along with names for the two new roads that will run through it — James McEachern Drive and Gus Grissom Street.
Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign stop at the airport, in which he “stated that we here lived in the defense structure of the United States,” was a defining reason for naming the research park after him, said Kim Smith, Presque Isle’s public information officer and secretary of the air museum.
“He as president led the nation through a critical period during which Presque Isle played a very critical role,” Smith said. “In coming here and recognizing the importance of Presque Isle in the defense of the country, he really forged a direct connection with the community.”
McEachern is a Presque Isle native who spent 49 years as a flight test engineer with General Dynamics. He was the chief flight test engineer on the first flights of numerous planes, including the B36 and B58, and several of his flights still hold world records for speed, duration and altitude, among other factors.
Grissom was a U.S. Air Force pilot stationed at Presque Isle Air Force Base in 1951 during the Korean War. He later joined NASA and became the third human and second American in space as the pilot of the second suborbital Project Mercury flight. He died in 1967 during a pre-launch test of Apollo 1 alongside two other astronauts.
“Naming this street after him not only honors his service and sacrifice, but also creates a lasting reminder of the human courage and commitment that have shaped this nation’s journey into space,” Smith said.
