Tag: Sierra Nevada

  • Sierra Nevada on watch for critical cargo award

    Sierra Nevada Corp. technicians prepare the Dream Chaser engineering test article for another round of atmospheric flight tests. Credit: Sierra Nevada A prototype of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser space plane is nearing shipment to California’s Mojave Desert to resume runway landing tests as officials wait for word from NASA whether the company will win a…

  • Decision on new space station cargo contracts deferred

    SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft arrives at the International Space Station on April 17 for its sixth operational cargo delivery. Credit: ESA/NASA NASA expects to select commercial contractors to resupply the International Space Station in September, three months later than the agency’s previous timetable under a competition for cargo deliveries beginning in 2018. NASA was scheduled to…

  • SpaceX, Sierra Nevada get more time to finish flight tests

    The Dragon capsule for SpaceX’s pad abort test seen inside a test chamber. Credit: SpaceX NASA has extended development agreements with SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. past a March 31 deadline, giving the companies more time to complete delayed tests on commercial spacecraft intended to one day ferry astronauts into space. The extensions do not…

  • Sierra Nevada proposes all-in-one solution for ISS resupply

    Artist’s concept of the Dream Chaser cargo carrier at the International Space Station. Credit: Sierra Nevada Corp. Leveraging progress made to build a human-rated space plane for NASA’s commercial crew program, Sierra Nevada Corp. said this week it has offered a cargo-carrying version of the Dream Chaser spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station beginning…

  • NASA outlines why it passed over Sierra Nevada

    A prototype of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser space plane conducted a taxi and approach and landing test campaign in 2013 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Another landing test is planned for March. Credit: NASA NASA cited the complexity of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser space plane and an uncertainty of when the proposed crew transport…

  • GAO reaffirms NASA’s commercial crew decision

    Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft (left) and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule (right) will carry U.S. astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station. Credit: Boeing/SpaceX/Spaceflight Now The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a protest filed by Sierra Nevada Corp. challenging NASA’s selection of competitors Boeing and SpaceX to build commercial human-rated space capsules to fly astronauts…

  • NASA clears commercial crew contractors to resume work

    Artist’s concept of Boeing’s CST-100 crew capsule approaching the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Boeing Boeing Co. and SpaceX, selected by NASA last month to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, can resume development of their human-rated spacecraft after officials ordered a work stoppage prompted by a protest by Sierra Nevada Corp., the company left…