"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," reports the Seattle Times.
"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."
Test launches will be conducted in West Texas, where Bezos recently bought a 165,000-acre ranch near the small town of Van Horn, about 110 miles southeast of El Paso. Long-term plans for that site include a spaceport where three-person space-tourism flights could blast off once a week.
The article mentions other rich men interested in space, such as Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic, and John Carmack of Doom and Quake fame, who "founded an aerospace company and is testing a rocket called the Black Armadillo".
Oh, and that's the city of Kent in the state of Washington, not the English county.
