From Kent to Texas to Orbit

Seattle has more than it's share of space privateers, as we've noted in the past. Paul Allen and Vulcan have been making progress and it's not a secret, but we haven't heard much about Jeff Bezos and his company Blue Origin in quite some time. Until today, actually, when we found out that Blue Origin completed a test flight in November in Texas. Yeah, Texas - They have a research facility here in Kent or somewhere nearby, but it's very Area 51 - No one who works there talks about what goes on inside or even admits to working there at all. No doubt aliens are involved and have graciously awarded the Amazon founder with the gift of intergalactic travel as a reward for his successes in online retail.

Some details of the test flight appeared on Blue Origin's website recently along with photos, video and a mission statement:

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 to achieve results, and we do not kid ourselves into thinking this will get easier as we go along. Smaller, more frequent steps drive a faster rate of learning, help us maintain focus, and give each of us an opportunity to see our latest work fly sooner.

This account seems to indicate that some of the pictures or video come from "Blue Origin's production facility in a Seattle suburb" but nothing seems familiar to us. It all looks like Texas, or, at least, none of it looks like Kent.

Blue Origin is hiring, by the way, if any Boeing propulsion engineers and turbomachinery engineers want to dust off the res and get it to Walt McCleery.