Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - The town of Van Horn has been abnormally busy lately, and rumor has it a billionaire and his dream machine is the reason why. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, is being quite secretive about his rocket plans. His aerospace company, Blue Origin, submitted a Draft Environmental Assessment to the FAA for its launch site near Van Horn this summer. Although we have no official word from Bezos or Blue Origin, sources say a rocket launch is being planned for the very near future. Today we visited the launch site, located about 20 miles north of Van Horn. Secutiry was tight, with plenty of cameras, fences, gates and 'No Trespassing' signs.

Depite the launch site being several miles from the front gate, we did see plenty of people traveling in and out of the entrance. We actually caught up with a few of them, but didn't get a whole lot of details. Van Horn residents tell us business has picked up at local hotels and restaurants. They welcome the new customers, but don't know exactly what they're doing there. This is one of two test sites in the Borderland for human space travel. However, unlike Richard Branson who welcomed the publicity, Bezos seems to be avoiding the media spotlight. Stay tuned to NewsChannel 9, both on-air and on-line, for the latest udpates on this story.