'Next-generation' Spacecraft Passes Second Captive Flight Test

Colorado's Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) successfully carried out a full-scale captive-carry test of the Dream Chaser, a spacecraft the company is developing to one day ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

The captive-carry test comes in preparation of an upcoming free-flight test, and was specifically designed to test the vehicle's software, including the flight computer, guidance, navigation and control, aero surfaces and the landing gear and nose skid.

"Today is the first time we have flown a fully functional Dream Chaser spacecraft, and we are very pleased with the results," Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of SNC's Space Systems, said in a statement.

Previous evaluations have included ground taxi- and tow-tests, an examination of the performance of the main landing gear and a flight test readiness review. According to SNC, all systems have been verified at this point, meaning the company has only final preparations to undergo before the approach-and-landing test scheduled for fall.

The Dream Chaser is unique in its approach in that it is designed to serve as a reusable spacecraft capable of transporting humans to low Earth orbit aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle and returning to Earth with a runway landing. According to NASA, the vehicle represents years of research by both it and SNC and features a design that allows for increased cross range and lower g forces upon entry than a capsule. As such, the spacecraft provides "more landing opportunities and a more benign entry environment for crew and science experiment return."

According to SNC, the company is one of three currently funded by NASA's Commercial Crew Capability initiative aimed at developing "a next-generation crew transportation vehicle and the only reusable, lifting body vehicle with runway landing capability."

"We look forward to seeing Dream Chaser land on the same runway as the space shuttle orbiters once did as we move forward in the development of the next-generation crew transportation vehicle," Sirangelo said.