Sierra Space has delivered the first Dream Chaser spaceplane, Tenacity, to NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.
Dream Chaser has entered the final testing phase ahead of its first flight in 2024. The testing campaign will confirm the spacecraft’s resilience to the challenges of launch and the demanding conditions of space as it prepares for its inaugural mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under a multi-mission NASA contract.
Dream Chaser joins Sierra Space’s cargo module, Shooting Star™, which arrived at the NASA test facility in November.
The two vehicles are set to be stacked in launch configuration and undergo rigorous environmental testing starting in the Mechanical Vibration Facility. The test will subject them to the extreme conditions of launch vibrations on the world’s most powerful spacecraft shaker table.
Sierra Space is unwavering in its commitment to ensuring the utmost reliability of its cutting-edge technologies. Dream Chaser, crafted in tandem with the groundbreaking Shooting Star cargo module, will reinvent space transportation and usher in the burgeoning era of space commercialization known as the Orbital Age®.
“At Sierra Space, we are ushering in the next industrial revolution with a business and technology platform that provides our customers with a complete turn-key solution offering Space-as-a-Service. Our platform includes Dream Chaser, a revolutionary, highly reusable commercial spaceplane with global runway access, and the first business-ready commercial space station, leveraging the most advanced expandable structural architecture that will exponentially decrease the cost of product development and manufacturing in space.” — Sierra Space CEO, Tom Vice