Thursday, May 10, 2012

Breaking News | Dream Chaser test plan outlined by Sierra Nevada

Spaceflight Now   h/t  Behind the Black

quote:

Sierra Nevada Corp., one of the firms vying to build a commercial space taxi for NASA, plans a series of automated and piloted atmospheric flight tests of its lifting body Dream Chaser spacecraft beginning this summer, ultimately leading to an orbital demonstration mission in 2016, according to company managers.

Comment:

In another 4 years?  That seems a long way off.

quote:
The Dream Chaser is based on the HL-20 lifting body concept studied by NASA's Langley Research Center from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Launching into orbit on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, the spaceship will dock with the International Space Station and can stay there for more than six months. At the end of its mission, the craft will enter the atmosphere and make a piloted touchdown at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Comment:

I wonder if one of these could be attached to the Birdzilla?

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