Would Carry Cargo To The ISS Under NASA Contract

Sierra Nevada Corporation expects to make its first flight with a Dream Chaser space plane to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021.

Dream Chaser, which was originally designed to be a manned ship, was selected by NASA in 2016 for six unmanned cargo missions to the station by 2024.

Space.com reports that SNC conducted a media call on January 9 in which the company said construction of the first Dream Chaser will be completed this year in anticipation of its first launch.

The Dream Chaser resembles the now-retired Space Shuttle. It will be carried aloft by a ULA booster, but land on a runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Steve Lindsey, a former NASA astronaut who's now the vice president of space exploration systems for SNC said the company is still working on a crewed variant of the spaceplane, and exploring clients other than NASA. He said that the business plan calls for two possible options. In one, SNC would provide the crew for the mission, but clients could also essentially rent a Dream Chaser and provide its own crew.

"If someone else is going to fly it, there would be training," Lindsey said. "We would need to train people to fly it." SNC said the customer would make the decision about whether to use and SNC crew or provide its own.

(Image from SNC video)

FMI: Source report