spacetoday.net: Bezos discloses Blue Origin plans

Posted: Fri, Jan 14, 2005, 8:45 AM ET (1345 GMT)
Blue Origin, a commercial space transportation company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, will establish a rocket testing range and launch site in West Texas for potential use by a suborbital vehicle. Bezos told the Van Horn (Tex.) Advocate, a local weekly newspaper, that he plans to establish the launch site on a 67,000-hectare ranch north of the town that Bezos recently purchased. The site would take up about five percent of the ranch's acreage, and the company is beginning talks with the FAA about obtaining a launch site license for the property. Van Horn is a small town located about 200 kilometers southeast of El Paso. Blue Origin will retain its headquarters in Seattle. The secretive company has revealed few details about its vehicle plans, but told the Seattle Times that the company's first project will be a three-person suborbital vehicle that will take off and land vertically. Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, has an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion.