Friday's Internet Edition, July 04, 2008.
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| Goddard vehicle flew.... On November 13, 2006 this Goddard vehicle was launched sucessfully from Blue Origin’s launch facility 25 miles north of town. The vehicle went up to about 285’ and then returned to earth. The vertical launch and recovery went without a hitch for the folks at Blue Origin. You can actually view the launch by going to Blue Origin’s website at www.blueorigin.com. (Blue Origin photo) |
- Blue Origin, the space launch company started by Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, has recently upgraded their website. The website is www.blueorigin.com.
Blue Origin, you may recall has two main facilities used in the preparation and launch of their space vehicles. The primary facility is in Kent, Washington where the work is done in building and testing the launch vehicle and its systems. The other is their actual launch facility, located here in Culberson County, some 25 miles north of Van Horn, on land owned by Jeff Bezos.
On the website is a letter from Jeff Bezos himself detailing what the space launch company is doing and the types of people they are recruiting. Here is a portion of what the letter says:
“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.”
“Our first objective is developing New Shepard, a vertical take-off, vertical-landing vehicle designed to take a small number of astronauts on a sub-orbital journey into space.”
“On the morning of November 13, 2006, we launched and landed Goddard – a first development vehicle in the New Shepard program. The launch was both useful and fun.”
If you take the time to view the videos on their website, you will see that the Goddard vehicle was in fact launched and landed vertically and in virtually the same spot. Not bad for a first test launch!
Oh, there is no doubt that there will be disappointments along the way toward actual space launches but Blue Origin does not seem to be a company that will give up. Under the plans outlined in the Environmental Assessment for the Federal Aviation Administration, there will be more and more test launches in the next couple of years culminating in manned space launches by 2010.
While some in the fledgling space industry are saying a lot and doing little, Blue Origin has been doing a lot and saying little. Blue Origin has completed a full-fledged launch facility north of town while others are still talking about what they’re going to do.
There is no limit to what Blue Origin can accomplish in space!
Column One
By Dawn Simpson
Make plans now for next weekend’s Culberson County Livestock Show. This annual event is a big one for our 4-H kids, who always are grateful for your support. Along with the show and auction, you can enjoy a good barbecue meal and I think there’ll be a dance as well. Watch for all the info in next week’s Advocate.
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What is it with our weather? I heard today that we are supposed to get another cold blast of air in a few days. The nights have all been below freezing and even when the daytime temps get up around 60 there’s cold wind that makes it feel much less. I never thought I would be anxious for the warmer winds of early Spring (even with the dust) but I’m almost ready for that. Is it just me, are do you all feel it’s been colder. Oh well, at least we’re not digging out from the snow as some places are.
I’ve had tulip bulbs in my refrigerator waiting to be planted and there hasn’t been a nice weekend to do it in awhile.
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If one of your New Year Resolutions was to quit smoking, there’s an added incentive now. Starting Jan. 1, 2007 smokers will see an increase in the tobacco taxes they pay on each pack of cigarettes purchased. In fact, it will cost you a whole dollar more per pack, which brings the total tobacco tax on a pack to $1.41. Based on a pack of 20 cigarettes you could be paying as much as 25 cents per smoke, depending on the brand.
Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s a little too much to be paying - and putting your health at risk to boot. So how about saving yourself a bunch of money and doing the healthy thing as well - kick that expensive habit. I’m sure it’s not as easy done as easy said, but give it a try. For your sake - and for your pocketbook’s sake.
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I was in the front of the store the other day and Larry was in the office at his computer. I heard this really loud noise. It sounded almost like a rocket taking off and it lasted for a while. When I finished with the customer (who was also wondering what was going on) I went to see what could possibly be coming from his computer with that kind of sound. Well, it was a rocket taking off. He had gone to Blue Origin’s web site, where they had posted the launch of their rocket there for all to experience. My, my, isn’t technology something! I believe Larry has the web site address in the story he wrote on this page of the Advocate. You don’t have to go and sit out on the edge of Highway 54, hoping for a distant glimpse of one of their launches. Thanks, Blue Origin. We enjoyed seeing more of what you are doing and how your project is advancing. And for the realization that this is for real and it isn’t going away as some skeptics have suggested.
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As you know, or maybe the realization hasn’t hit you yet, we have a new Congressman. His name is Ciro Rodriguez and he has now taken his post in Washington, replacing Henry Bonilla. Yes, that’s a little sad to me, but maybe we will soon get acquainted with Mr. Rodriguez and get to know his as well as we did Mr. Bonilla and it’ll be okay. Anyway, if you would like to know how to contact Congressman Rodriguez about anything (and we should all be in contact with our Congressman about issues important to us) this is his address. You might want to clip it out and put it in an address book or somewhere you can find it when you need it.
Honorable Ciro D. Rodriguez
23rd Congressional District of Texas
U.S. House of Representatives
2458 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone - (202)225-4511
His congressional website is a work in progress, but you can access it at: http://rodriguez.house.gov/contact.shtml.
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I can’t imagine why, but anything about aging seems to catch my eye lately. But even if you aren’t that concerned about ‘aging’ the following is fun to read........
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we’re kids? If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
“How old are you?” “I’m four and a half!” You’re never thirty-six and a half. You’re four and a half, going on five! That’s the key.
You get into your teens, now they can’t hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.
“How old are you?” “I,m gonna be 16! You could be 13, but hey, you’re gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life....you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony.....YOU BECOME 21. YESSS!!!
But then you turn 30. Ooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There’s no fun now, you’re just a sour-dumpling. What’s wrong? What’s changed?
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you’re pushing 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it’s all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50
And your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn’t think you would!
So you’ve built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it’s a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!
You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn’t end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; “I was JUST 92.”
Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. “I’m 100 and a half!”
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!
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Thought For The Week:... “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
January 11th - Van Horn Junior High 7th and 8th grade basketball teams play in the Kermit Invitiational today. The Clark Hotel Historical Museum board of directors is slated to meet tonight at 6 p.m. at the Clark Hotel Museum. Members of the Van Horn Volunteer Fire Department are scheduled to meet tonight at 7 pm at the firehouse.
January 12th - The Van Horn Eagle varsity and JV boys and girls play host to Ozona in district basetball tonight begining at 4 p.m.
January 13th - Van Horn Junior High 7th and 8th grade basketball teams compete in the Kermit Invitational today.
January 14th - Attend the church of your choice.
January 15th - Martin L. King, Jr. Holiday. The Van Horn Rotary Club is slated to meet today at noon at Chuy’s Restaurant. Van Horn Juniior High 7th and 8th grade basketball teams play Kermit today, some here and some there. Trustees of the Culberson County-Allamoore ISD are slated to meet tonight at 6 p.m. in the District Administration Building.
January 16th - The Van Horn Eagle varsity and JV boys and girls play Kermit in Kermit today beginninig at 4 p.m. The Van Horn City Council is scheduled to meet this evening at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
January 117th - Nothing scheduled at press time.