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For the project, Bezos in on lookout for experienced aerospace engineers. Through the venture, Blue Origin, the company hopes to substantially lower the cost of spaceflight to appeal to the average citizen. "Blue Origin wants you!.We're working, patiently and step-by-step, to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go and so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system. Accomplishing this mission will take a long time, and we're working on it methodically. We believe in incremental improvement and in keeping investments at a pace that's sustainable. Slow and steady is the way...

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of amazon.com, unveiled the prototype of his much-anticipated spaceship yesterday — although with a range of 85 metres it could be some time before the project launches properly. Mr Bezos has been working on the project since 2000, during which time he has kept developments shrouded in secrecy.

The hush-hush space effort funded by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin, executed a test launch from its West Texas spaceport today, air traffic controllers confirmed. Based on the Federal Aviation Administration documents governing the test, it was a relatively low-altitude blastoff - but it comes at the beginning of a launch schedule that could lead to tourist rides to the edge of outer space by 2010. Blue Origin's launch window extended from Friday until today, and controllers in Albuquerque, N.M., told me that a launch indeed occurred this morning. However, for further comment they referred me to the venture's...

The new space race has touched down in Kent, where Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos is building a rocket-ship complex set to open early next year. Blue Origin, Bezos' aerospace company, will use the facility to design and build spacecraft and engines. The company's near-term goal is to develop a vehicle that can take passengers on a thrill ride to the edge of space. But eventually, Bezos has said, he wants to build spaceships powerful enough to orbit the Earth. He even hopes to establish permanent colonies in space someday.

The Seattle-based Blue Origin rocket company, bankrolled by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, plans to set up corporate headquarters and primary operations in the city of Kent, Washington next year. Secretive in their rocket work, Blue Origin is developing a passenger-carrying vertical takeoff and landing rocket. According to a recent statement from the City of Kent’s mayor, Jim White, Blue Origin will house the rocket firm’s research, design, and manufacturing, assembly, and test operations in the city of 84,000 people, creating a capacity for up to 100 jobs. Blue Origin executives anticipate that the company’s launch facility in West Texas,...

A public meeting was held June 14 in Van Horn, Texas as part of a series of steps to gain a governmental okay for Blue Origin to launch its rockets. Blue Origin is the Seattle-based company bankrolled by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, to create and launch passenger-carrying spacecraft. “The public information meetings are part of the environmental assessment process required by the FAA,” said Gwen Griffin, a spokesperson for the rocket group. “The meetings are for the public to make comments or ask questions about Blue Origin’s proposal,” she told SPACE.com. A launch operator license must be obtained from...

Details of a new passenger-carrying rocket are emerging from Blue Origin, the Seattle-based company spearheaded by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. The first test flight of the rocket in unpiloted mode is slated for late next year. On the group’s web site, they have posted an update on their reusable launch vehicle (RLV) work. The exposure is tied to steps needed in securing an operator license from the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation in Washington, D.C. That FAA office has had several meetings with Blue Origin, said Patricia Smith, Associate Administrator for the Office of Commercial...