The spaceport is located close to Ahuriri Point at the southern tip of New Zealand's Māhia Peninsula, in the Hawke's Bay Region of the North Island's east coast.

While the site would not permit equatorial launches due to the presence of Banks Peninsula to the east, it was favourable for Sun-synchronous orbital flights, which the company believed would be of primary interest to its customers.

[8] It had first been visited by company officials in April 2015 as part of their initial scouting for launch sites,[9] and were preparing to submit a resource consent application.

[11] On 23 November 2015, Rocket Lab stated that the Māhia Peninsula site would be the priority launch facility because of delays in obtaining resource consents for developing at Kaitorete Spit.

[10] Rocket Lab signed an agreement with air traffic service provider Airways New Zealand in early September 2016 to develop "special use airspace.

"[14] The Māhia Peninsula site, named Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, was officially opened on 26 September 2016 (UTC) in a ceremony presided over by Minister for Economic Development Steven Joyce.