SPARKS, Nev. -- Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has received Authority to Proceed for the Dream Chaser spacecraft’s first mission from NASA. The mission, which has a launch window for late 2020, will provide cargo resupply to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services Contract 2 (CRS2).
SNC's reusable Dream Chaser spacecraft is a multi-mission, commercial, lifting-body vehicle capable of providing transportation services to low-Earth-orbit (LEO) destinations, including the International Space Station (ISS). SNC is developing a cargo version of the Dream Chaser under contract with NASA. The Dream Chaser Cargo System is designed to deliver up to 5,500 kilograms of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the ISS. Once docked with the ISS, the Dream Chaser will act as a flying laboratory that can host scientific payloads and can receive commands in real time. It will have the ability to conduct orbital disposal services and responsively return pressurized cargo at less than 1.5 gs to a gentle runway landing.
Although SNC did not win a contract from NASA to carry human crew to the International Space Station, the company has been successful in developing relationships with space agencies around the world to explore possible uses for its space vehicle. NASA selected SNC to carry cargo to the space station. Canada, Germany, and the United Nations have also awarded SNC contracts to carry experiments into space aboard the Dream Chaser.