AP Story talkradio1170.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from talkradio1170.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Space Tourism Companies Bring Excitement to Small American Towns
July 21, 2021
The side of a building in Van Horn, Texas, is adorned with a mural of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos on Saturday, July 17, 2021, just days before Bezos launched into space from the Blue Origin spaceport about 25 miles outside of the West Texas town. (AP Photo)
Share
share
The URL has been copied to your clipboard
0:00
0:06:45
0:00
tourism flights continues in the United States, two small American towns have entered the action.
On Tuesday, American billionaire Jeff Bezos flew to the edge of space on a rocket built by his company Blue Origin. Three other people took the quick trip with him: Bezo’s brother, a Dutch teenager and an 82-year old pilot.
AP Story talkradio1170.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from talkradio1170.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
VAN HORN, Texas (AP) â For years, the official letterhead for the small town of Van Horn, tucked neatly among the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains, read simply: âFarming, ranching, mining.â
And while there is still some farming and ranching in this far West Texas community, and a talc mine still operates near the edge of town, thereâs another booming business in its midst: space tourism.
The sprawling spaceport of Blue Origin, the company founded by business magnate Jeff Bezos in 2000, is located about 25 miles outside of the town of about 1,800 residents on what was once desolate desert ranchland. On Tuesday, the company plans to launch four people on a 10-minute trip into space, including Bezos, his brother, Mark, female aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old Dutchman and last-minute fill-in for the winner of a $28 million charity auction who had a scheduling conflict. Funk, at age 82, and Daemen will become the oldest and youngest
“That’s the big buzz in this little town,” said Valentina Muro as she rang up a customer at the Broadway Café along Van Horn’s main strip. “It’s kind of put Van Horn on the map a little more than it was.”
The town, which sprouted up in the late 1800s during the construction of the Texas and Pacific Railway, now is mostly an overnight stop for travelers along Interstate 10, which runs parallel to the town’s main road, dotted with hotels, restaurants, truck stops and convenience stores.
“Our biggest driving force is the tourism dollar,” said Van Horn Mayor Becky Brewster.