Flight and Landing System testing of the “Dream Chaser” spacecraft are now beginning with the arrival of the vehicle, being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The Dream Chaser will serve as a crew space transport vehicle to carry astronauts into space and to the International Space Station (ISS).
The development of the Dream Chaser by SNC is part of a larger partnership betwee NASA and space industry companies including Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and The Boeing Company. The partnership with commercial space companies is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), has an overall goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective U.S. human access to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit.
Allowing companies in the CCP to develop many of the crew and other space vehicles, NASA is able to focus its efforts on developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration in the solar system.
According to a NASA press release, the tests at of the Dream Chaser at Dryden will include tow, captive-carry and free-flight tests of the Dream Chaser. A truck will tow the craft down a runway to validate performance of the nose strut, brakes and tires. The captive-carry flights will further examine the loads it will encounter during flight as it is carried by an Erickson Skycrane helicopter. The free flight later this year will test Dream Chaser’s aerodynamics through landing.
“Unique public-private partnerships like the one between NASA and Sierra Nevada Corporation are creating an industry capable of building the next generation of rockets and spacecraft that will carry U.S. astronauts to the scientific proving ground of low-Earth orbit,” said William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations in Washington. “NASA centers around the country paved the way for 50 years of American human spaceflight, and they’re actively working with our partners to test innovative commercial space systems that will continue to ensure American leadership in exploration and discovery.”
NASA astronauts are preparing to fly the Dream Chaser by using simulators at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Their simulator flights this week will also measure how well the spacecraft would handle in a number of different atmospheric conditions and assess its guidance and navigation performance.
To learn more about the Commercial Crew Program, go to NASA’s web site for the program at http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew. Details about the Dream Chaser spacecraft, and other space exploration programs under development by SNC can be found on their web site: http://www.SNCspace.com.