NASA's Commercial Crew Partner Sierra Nevada Corporation Completes Dream Chaser Flight Test Milestone

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May 31, 2012

Candrea Thomas
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
candrea.k.thomas@nasa.gov

Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-0321
trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov

Sierra Nevada Corporation Space Systems
Louisville, Colo.
720-407-3193
media.ssg@sncorp.com

RELEASE: 12-180

NASA'S COMMERCIAL CREW PARTNER SIERRA NEVADA CORPORATION COMPLETES DREAM CHASER FLIGHT TEST MILESTONE

LOUISVILLE, Colo. -- Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems 
successfully completed a "captive carry test" of its full-scale Dream 
Chaser orbital crew vehicle Tuesday, marking a new milestone in the 
company's effort to develop transportation for astronauts to low 
Earth orbit and the International Space Station.

During the test, the Dream Chaser flight vehicle was carried under an 
Erickson Air-Crane helicopter to assess the vehicle's aerodynamic 
flight performance, which will allow additional flight tests in the 
future. The helicopter flew for approximately an hour near the Rocky 
Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Jefferson County, Colo.

SNC is one of several companies working to develop commercial crew 
transportation capabilities under the Commercial Crew Development 
Round 2 (CCDev2) agreement with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), 
which is helping spur innovation and development of new spacecraft 
and launch vehicles from the commercial industry.

"This is a very positive success for the Dream Chaser team and their 
innovative approach," NASA CCP Program Manager Ed Mango said. "I 
applaud and encourage the designers and engineers to continue their 
efforts in meeting the objectives of the rest of their CCDev2 
milestones."

The Dream Chaser is designed to carry as many as seven astronauts to 
space. It is the only spacecraft under CCDev2 that is winged and 
designed to land on a conventional runway. Data from the test will 
provide SNC an early opportunity to evaluate and prove hardware, 
facilities and ground operations in preparation for approach and 
landing tests scheduled for later this year.

"The successful captive carry flight test of the Dream Chaser full 
scale flight vehicle marks the beginning of SNC's flight test 
program, a program that could culminate in crewed missions to the 
International Space Station for NASA," said Steve Lindsey, former 
NASA astronaut and head of Dream Chaser's flight operations for SNC.

Additional milestones leading up to the test included evaluating the 
performance of the main landing gear selected for use on the Dream 
Chaser flight vehicle, an interface test to demonstrate the release 
mechanism between the spacecraft prototype and the heavy-lift 
helicopter, and a thorough flight test readiness review with 
engineers, technical experts and representatives from SNC and NASA. 
Another milestone evaluated the separation system compatibility of 
Dream Chaser with its initial launch vehicle, the United Launch 
Alliance Atlas V rocket, which would be used to release the 
spacecraft from the rocket's second stage after it has placed the 
spacecraft into low Earth orbit.

All of NASA's industry partners, including SNC, continue to meet their 
established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation 
capabilities.

For more video and images of the test flight, and more information 
about NASA's Commercial Crew Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

For more information on Sierra Nevada Space Systems, visit:

http://www.SNCspace.com 

	
-end-



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