Sierra Space has completed assembly of its Dream Chaser spaceplane. The vehicle could be launched into space next year, on schedule International Space Station (ISS) With a Vulcan Centaur rocket from United Launch Alliance.

The plane, dubbed Tenacity, will be sent to the Neil A. Armstrong test facility in NASAYou will undergo procedures in a vacuum chamber that simulates conditions found in space. After this stage, the vehicle will be transported to Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Currently, there is no set launch date for the first Dream Chaser mission, but it could happen sometime in March 2024. The timeline for the inaugural mission depends not only on the aircraft, but also on the Vulcan Centaur rocket.

The Dream Chaser has been in development for more than a decade and was originally designed as a cargo transport vehicle for the International Space Station. When it begins operations, it will be launched with Vulcan Centaur, and upon its return it will land on the airport runway. Kennedy Space Center.

However, the rocket is supposed to make its maiden flight in December, taking Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander into space; If all goes well, Dream Chaser will launch with Vulcan on its second flight. United Launch Alliance needs to complete these two missions before the Pentagon missions can begin.

Because it can land on the runway used by older space shuttles, the Dream Chaser promises to be an important option for NASA missions. Currently, the space agency has Dragon capsules from… SpaceXWho land on the Florida coast after completing their missions. Another variant used by NASA is the Cygnus spacecraft, which is burned during World War II Re-entry into the atmosphere.

source: Space Sierra

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