CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center.
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The uncrewed cargo spaceplane named “Tenacity” will launch on its inaugural flight later this year atop a ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket and then touch down at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility.
“We’re going to be putting on the last of the thermal protection tiles (and) run a few more tests on our vehicle,” Sierra Space’s Chief Safety Officer, Angie Wise, said. “Then we are going to prepare it to fuel the vehicle, and then encapsulate it inside the launch vehicle, and put it on top of the launch vehicle, and launch it.”
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That’s expected to happen sometime during the last quarter of the year.
During its first operational mission, tenacity will lift 7,800 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station.
“NASA has already bought seven cargo missions on the Dream Chaser,” Wise said. “But, Sierra Space still has plans for a crew version of its Dream Chaser that could one day fly to the company’s own space station.”
“We have never taken our eyes off of having a crew-capable vehicle,” Wise said. “Long term, we want to continue to enable human spaceflight and bring astronauts to and from the space station, or in some cases, we’re working on our own space station that other customers could use.”
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