Dream Chaser spaceplane 1st launch delayed until 2025
http://earthsky.org/spaceflight/dream-chaser-spaceplane-sierra-space/
July 7, 2024
United Launch Alliance CEO Tony Bruno announced at a press conference on June 26, 2024, that Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser won’t get its first launch this year. The company made the call, Ars Technica reported, because of delays getting the spaceplane ready to go. Bruno expressed his disappointment:
"Timing is everything. We waited as long as possible on Dream Chaser because we really, really wanted to fly them. It’s a very exciting mission."
The change in the ULA schedule is due to pressure from the U.S. Space Force. The newest American military wing wants ULA’s new Vulcan rocket certified for military launches ASAP. For ULA, that means launching the vehicle with a dummy payload instead of the first private spaceplane. For spaceflight fans, it means disappointment.
The Space Force has a growing backlog of military missions awaiting Vulcan’s certification. The rocket was supposed to make its first flight in 2021. The inaugural liftoff came this year instead.
New spaceplane will be a ferry to the space station
Tenacity – the first model of the Dream Chaser spaceplane from Sierra Space – arrived at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on May 20, 2024. Eventually, the vessel will fly atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle. For its first mission, sometime in 2025, it will carry about 8,500 pounds (3,850 kg) to the International Space Station. NASA has contracted with Sierra Space for seven cargo missions to the space station. Sierra Space also has plans for a second version of its Dream Chaser spaceplane, which will carry crew to low-Earth orbit destinations.
Dream Chaser will be 1st private spaceplane to fly
Spaceplanes have been around for decades, with NASA’s space shuttle the most memorable. But there are others flying today, including the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B and a Chinese version with a starkly utilitarian name: the Reusable Experimental Spacecraft.
A Soviet version – the Buran – only made it off the ground once during an uncrewed orbital test flight.
All of them bear a striking resemblance to the space shuttle, especially the Soviet version. Dream Chaser is no exception. It features a bright, white body with a sleek swept delta-wing design and an underbelly covered in black heat-resistant tiles. And Dream Chaser, too, can fly.
>>>
(Article does continue. Zim.)
Mad Poet Strikes Again.
| 
