62 The LandReport | T E X A S 2 0 1 6
LANDREPORT.COM
8
T
he last 12 months have seen
remarkable progress for Bezos
and his team at Blue Origin. On
two occasions, Blue Origin's New Shepard
booster has lifted off from Bezos's Corn
Ranch north of Van Horn, traveled 100
kilometers into the atmosphere, reached
the Karman line, and then returned to
the Culberson County launch site. (New
Shepard's successful vertical landings are
no doubt the envy of Elon Musk's SpaceX,
which has so far endured three failed
vertical landings with its Falcon 9
rocket booster.)
Jeff Bezos
290,000 acres
One of the principal goals of Bezos's Blue Origin space exploration company is to eliminate US dependence on the Russian-made RD-180.
MIKE
BROWN/SPACE
FLORIDA