Every person chases a dream, but only the Dream Chaser (DC) spacecraft system has a final destination of the International Space Station (ISS) nearly 250 miles above the Earth. Sometime in late 2020, the DC will make its initial vertical launch on an Atlas V 5 rocket, enter low-Earth orbit to resupply the ISS with pressurized and unpressurized cargo, and then autonomously land horizontally on a conventional runway. It will repeat this process at least five more times over the next few years.
Sierra Nevada Corp. is the owner and operator of the DC, but has partnered with several aerospace companies, NASA centers and universities to design, assemble and test the spacecraft in Louisville, CO. Lockheed Martin, for example, constructed the spacecraft’s airframe and verified its human rating.