Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is in the process of building a space port in Texas... the kind Ray Bradbury would be very proud of.

A spacecraft taking off from a private West Texas spaceport being bankrolled and developed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos would take off vertically, but unlike NASA's space shuttle would also land vertically, according to an environmental study that offers a glimpse into the secretive plans.

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As many as 10 flight tests lasting as long as a minute and reaching an altitude of about 2,000 feet could occur this year at the site, north of Van Horn on the 165,000-acre Corn Ranch purchased by Bezos. Over the following three years, as many as 25 launches would be made annually, growing in altitude to 325,000 feet and in duration to more than 10 minutes.

Commercial flights, a goal of the project, could begin in 2010, according to the timetable in the document, with as many as 52 a year.

I can see the ad-line now...

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This is the future of space exploration... Private industry. Only the Private Sector has the interest and the power to make space travel/exploration accessible to the average Joe. Assuming, of course, the average Joe doesn't kill himself in an endless stream of conflict, war and genecide.