Maine aerospace company passes rocket engine test

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BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) A Maine aerospace company has conducted a successful rocket engine test and can move forward on its plan to launch rockets.

The company, bluShift Aerospace, conducted the test in front of hundreds of people via a YouTube livestream on Tuesday in Brunswick. The company said in a statement that the test went well and “clears a path toward the company’s next suborbital rocket, Starless Rogue, and orbital rocket, Red Dwarf.”

The company plans to use the orbital rocket to deliver small satellites into polar orbit around Earth, The Times Record reported.

The company launched a 20-foot (6-meter) prototype rocket a little more than 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) during a major test run in January 2021.

The company is headquartered at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.

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