An isolated edge of vast West Texas has now become part of a very secret 21st-century space race.

The presence of Blue Origin, LLC, the brainchild of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, only registers in close by Van Horn. Some visitors permitted beyond the ‘No Trespassing’ sign and a remote-controlled gate and also into the desert and mountain environment reminiscent of the Air Force’s well-known Area 51 in Nevada.

Robert Morales, editor of the weekly Van Horn Advocate newspaper said that no one gets in than employees. The SpaceX venture is led by Elon Musk and his company contracts with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with an aim to resupply the ISS.

According to experts, a launch site has also been building about 600 miles from Van Horn, on the southernmost Texas Gulf coast, with the much-publicized aim of sending humans to Mars. Blue Origin and SpaceX are among many US companies involved in the private space business. It seems that they both have unlimited resources, it is estimated that Bezos’ wealth is at about $35 billion and Musk’s at $12 billion.

An announcement has been made by Bezos this month that his company’s new hydrogen rocket engine had finished hundreds of tests at the West Texas site. Shortly, it will be put to the final test of flight. The new hydrogen rocket engine designed for suborbital missions.

“For me, space is something that I have been in love with since I was 5 years old. I watched Neil Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon, and I guess it imprinted me”, said Bezos.