Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled plans on Tuesday to build a rocket manufacturing plant and launch site in Florida to better compete with fellow billionaires using their fortunes and tech prowess to open a new frontier in human space travel and exploration.
Bezos'space startup, Blue Origin, intends to invest more than $200 million to build the rocket-making facility adjacent to NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Blue Origin has been developing and testing a small rocket in West Texas, called New Shepard, that can travel about 62 above the planet before returning to Earth.
The company's new rockets, which have yet to be named, will be able to reach orbital altitudes, such as the 250- mile-high perch of the International Space Station, and beyond.