Tag: Sierra Space
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First Dream Chaser Vehicle Ready for Final Testing
After years of work, Sierra Space’s first Dream Chaser reusable spaceplane is almost ready to fly. The vehicle’s next step is a trip to NASA’s Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio ahead of its first launch at the Kennedy Space Center currently scheduled for no earlier than March 2024. NSF was invited as part…
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After decades of dreams, a commercial spaceplane is almost ready to fly
LOUISVILLE, Colorado—The first Dream Chaser spaceplane built to go into orbit is starting to look the part. Its foldable wings and fuselage are covered in custom-fitted ceramic tiles to shield the spacecraft’s composite structure from the scorching heat of atmospheric reentry as it flies back to Earth. It has its landing gear, and technicians buzz…
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How Sierra Space Protects America’s Next Space Plane, Dream Chaser
Dream Chaser, the so-called “mini shuttle”, is set to bring back the capability of returning experiments and equipment from the International Space Station (ISS) through Earth’s atmosphere for an eventual runway landing. As much as the vehicle resembles NASA’s Space Transportation System, better known as the space shuttle, it’s actually based on a different NASA…
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SpaceX, Blue Origin, others highlighted in new NASA low-Earth orbit partnerships
On June 15, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced its intention to partner with seven U.S. aerospace companies in order to advance human spaceflight and the commercial low-Earth orbit economy. The agency stated in a press release that these partnerships — done through the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 initiative (CCSC-2) along…
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Blue Origin will work with NASA on orbital transportation system for astronauts
Coby Cotton and Steve Young gaze at Earth during a Blue Origin suborbital spaceflight in August 2022. (Blue Origin Photo) NASA says it will collaborate with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture on the development of new space transportation capabilities that will provide high-frequency access to low Earth orbit for astronauts and cargo. The project…
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Blue Origin’s team wins a $130M share of NASA funding for commercial space stations
An artist’s conception shows the Orbital Reef space station with a single-person spacecraft and Boeing’s Starliner space taxi flying nearby, and Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser space plane docked to a port. (Orbital Reef Illustration) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture and its partners have won a $130 million award to jump-start the design of their…
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Blue Origin, Sierra Space, and Boeing announce Orbital Reef
Amid a year of momentous developments in commercial spaceflight, including the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission and the first feature film to be shot in space, a consortium led by Blue Origin and Sierra Space has announced a commercial space station project known as Orbital Reef. The project is billed as a “mixed-use business park” that would…
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Blue Origin teams up with Sierra Space, Boeing and others on ‘Orbital Reef’ space station project
An artist’s conception shows a Boeing Starliner capsule at the Orbital Reef station. (Orbital Reef Illustration) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is joining forces with Colorado-based Sierra Space and a host of other partners, including Boeing, to propose building a space-based “mixed-use business park” called Orbital Reef. The plan, announced today at the International…