Blue Origin is the space exploration facility located in Far West Texas, north of Van Horn. Today, Blue Origin announced it had conducted a successful unmanned test of its launch pad escape system for astronauts.
The test was held Friday, October 19, above the Chihuahuan Desert. The capsule traveled to an altitude of 2,307 feet under active thrust vector control before descending safely by parachute to a soft landing 1,630 feet downrange.
The company was founded and has financing from Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon. NPR reported on the Blue Origin facility in 2006 and 2007.