Van Horn: Over the years, official letterhead for the small town of Van Horn, tucked neatly between the foot of the Guadalupe Mountains, read simple: “Agriculture, mining, mining.” And while there are still some agriculture and farms in this far western Texas community, and Talaai mine still operates near the edge of the city, there is another boom business in the middle: space tourism.
Spaceport The spacious blue, a company founded by Business Magnate Jeff Bezos in 2000, is located about 25 miles outside the city around 1,800 residents at what used to be December Deserts Ranchland.
On Tuesday, the company planned to launch four people on the way 10 minutes into space, including Bezos, his brother, Markus, Pioneer flights for Women Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen, a 18 year old Dutch and last minute charging.
For the winner of the $ 28 million charity auction that has a scheduling conflict.
Funk, at the age of 82, and the Daemen will be the oldest and youngest person in space.
“It’s a big buzz in this small town,” said Valentina Muro when he called customers at Broadway Cafe along the main strip of Van Horn.
“It’s kind of put a van horn on a map a little more than that.” The city, which grew in the late 1800s during the construction of Texas and Pacific Railway, now most of the overnight stops for travelers along between states, which run parallel to the city’s main roads, decorated with hotels, restaurants, stop trucks and convenience stores , “Our biggest driving force is the dollar tourism,” said Van Horn Mayor Becky Brewster.
The closeness of the city with Big Bend National Park, Mount Guadalupe, an ancient barrier reef which includes four highest peaks in Texas, and Carverns Carlsbad New Mexico also makes it pit stop for tourists.
“We often connect ourselves as a crossroads of Mount Texas,” Brewster said.
“We are here in the middle and this can be your hub for all your adventures in Texas far west.” The impact of blue operations in the city, the reaction among diverse locals.
While employees and contractors have worked at the facility since around 2005, Brewster said it was just in the last five years or more that workers for blue origin began to integrate themselves into the community.
“When they are in the development stage, blue origin is very secretive about what they are going on, their people cannot really socialize because they can’t talk about their work and things like that,” Brewster said.
“And it feels, this is the blue people and here are van horn people.
But it starts to change for the better.” One of the barrier barriers to connect the locals and scientists and engineers who work in Blue Origin is one that disturbs many American countryside communities – lack of available housing.
Local developers built around a dozen two bedroom houses and small apartment complexes, and all of them were quickly leased for original employees.
Of the approximately 250 employees and contractors working at the facility, Brewster said only about 40% lived in Van Horn.
Krissy Lerdy, whose husband was an engineer for the company, said he lived in a local hotel for more than four years before finally moving his family to Van Horn from New Mexico.
“When we saw to buy here, there were five houses on the market, no one passed the inspection, and we had to bring home modular,” Lerdy said.
“This is not my dream home, but housing is lacking.” However, in three and a half years he had lived here, Lerdy said he had worked hard to integrate himself into the community.
His children attended the local school system, and he joined the Women’s League League, which raised money for scholarships.
He also has a chair on the city zoning board.
“I know people who live here and buy a house here have tried hard to get involved,” he said.
“It’s hard when most of the community is related.
We are an outsider and we don’t want to step on feet, but we want to be involved, and it’s a hard line to walk.” I’m glad I feel like I’m part of the community, but some people don’t feel like that.
“Linda McDonald, a resident of Van Horn and district officers for the Culberson County seat, said that when he was amazed at the prospect of the people launched into the space of his backyard, he fleece over the suggestion that blue origin placed Van Horn on the map.” We already have On the map, “he told a group of around 100 graduates of Van Horn High School during the recent PEP Rally and Reunion which was part of the annual Jubilian city.” You have helped put us on the map, and we have to be proud of it.
“