Hyperdrive
Bezos’s Space Base Coexists Uneasily With Middle-of-Nowhere Town
When Blue Origin set up shop next to Van Horn, townsfolk dreamed of big changes to come. It hasn’t quite worked out that way.
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Jeff Bezos is headed to space. But first he has to pass through Van Horn, Texas.
A dot on the map along Interstate 10 between El Paso and San Antonio, Van Horn, population less than 2,000, considers Bezos a neighbor. From the town’s main drag, it’s just a 40-mile drive to Blue Origin’s launch pad, where he intends to rocket into space for a few minutes in his Blue Origin spacecraft on July 20. As distances go in this part of Texas, that’s next door.