New Dream Chaser spacecraft takes shape ahead of 1st Space Coast launch

Sierra Nevada Corporation
This rendering shows the Sierra Nevada Corp. Dream Chaser attached to the International Space Station.
Ken Ulbrich / AP
This Nov. 11, 2017 photo provided by Sierra Nevada Corporation shows the Dream Chaser spacecraft being lifted by a helicopter prior to a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The Sierra Nevada Corp. says its Dream Chaser had a successful free-flight drop test in the Mojave Desert on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017. (Ken Ulbrich/NASA via AP)
Carla Thomas / AP
Nasa announced the Sierra Nevada Corp. will join SpaceX and Orbital ATK in launching cargo to the International Space Station. These flights, yet to be finalized, will run through 2024.
Sierra Space
The Sierra Space Dream Chaser spacecraft takes shape at the company's Colorado facilities in 2022.
Ken Ulbrich / AP
This Nov. 11, 2017 photo provided by Sierra Nevada Corporation shows the Dream Chaser spacecraft landing after a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The Sierra Nevada Corp. says its Dream Chaser had a successful free-flight drop test in the Mojave Desert on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017. (Ken Ulbrich/NASA via AP)
Ken Ulbrich /NASA via AP
In this June 27, 2013 photo provided by NASA, Sierra Nevada Corp. engineers and technicians prepare the Dream Chaser engineering test vehicle for tow tests at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. On Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, NASA announced the Sierra Nevada Corp. will join SpaceX and Orbital ATK in launching cargo to the International Space Station. These flights, yet to be finalized, will run through 2024.
/ AP
This Nov. 19, 2010 photo provided by Sierra Nevada Space Systems shows the company's first test vehicle, for the Dream Chaser spacecraft, DC1, which shows the Dream Chaser on its way to start structural testing. The company hopes that by 2014 the Dream Chaser will makes its first orbital flight and then eventually take space travelers to the International Space Station. NASA's effort to farm out astronaut trips to the International Space Station to private companies over the next decade is under fire again, this time by federal deficit hit men. (AP Photo/Sierra Nevada Space Systems) NOSALES
Sierra Nevada Corp.
In this photo provided by Sierra Nevada Corp. engineers and technicians work on the Dream Chaser spacecraft. On Jan. 14, 2016, NASA announced the Sierra Nevada Corp. will join SpaceX and Orbital ATK in launching cargo to the International Space Station.
The Dream Chaser undergoing testing in May. Sierra Nevada Corp. photo
Sierra Nevada Corp.
Sierra Space
The Sierra Space Dream Chaser spacecraft takes shape at the company's Colorado facilities in 2022.
Sierra Space
The Sierra Space Dream Chaser spacecraft takes shape at the company's Colorado facilities in 2022.
Sierra Space
The Sierra Space Dream Chaser spacecraft takes shape at the company's Colorado facilities in 2022.
Matt Hartman / AP
Sierra Nevada Corp's "Dream Chaser" test spacecraft is prepared to be lifted by a helicopter for a test at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. The test version of a spacecraft resembling a mini space shuttle was carried aloft over the Mojave Desert by a helicopter in a precursor to a free flight in which it will be released to autonomously land on a runway as it would in an actual return from orbit. Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser craft was lifted off the ground at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base and was carried to the same altitude and flight conditions it will experience before release in a free flight. (Matt Hartman via AP)
/ AP
This artist's rendering provided by Sierra Nevada Space Systems shows the company's Dream Chaser spacecraft docking with the International Space Station. NASA has picked three aerospace companies to build small rocketships to take astronauts to the International Space Station. This is the third phase of NASA's efforts to get private space companies to take over the job of the now-retired space shuttle. The space agency is giving them more than $1.1 billion. Two of three ships are capsules like in the Apollo era and the third is a lifting body that is closer in design to the space shuttle. (AP Photo/Sierra Nevada Space Systems)

By Richard Tribou | rtribou@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

PUBLISHED: May 3, 2022 at 12:44 p.m. | UPDATED: May 3, 2022 at 8:53 p.m.

By this time next year, the Space Coast could see the launch of what looks like a mini space shuttle as Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser continues to come into focus.

For now, the Dream Chaser spacecraft, which is about 1/4th the size of the space shuttle orbiters, will be limited to cargo missions as part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract, which the company won in 2016.

It will join SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for bringing cargo to the International Space Station, but the company is already planning to build out a human-rated version that could become one of the players to launch crew to the ISS or other private space stations, including their own, this decade.

The first Dream Chaser is named Tenacity, and it has undergone aeroshell and wing deployment system installation at the company’s headquarters in Colorado, shown in a time-lapse video posted to the company’s YouTube channel on Tuesday.

While construction continues, it also awaits the completion of its ride to the ISS, which comes in the form of United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket. When mated, Vulcan will take Dream Chaser to orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Dream Chaser will join SpaceX’s Dragon with the ability to return cargo to Earth while Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus module burns up in the atmosphere after the station is done with it.

Unlike Dragon, though, the Dream Chaser aims to land back at Kennedy Space Center at the former space shuttle landing facility now run by Space Florida, the state’s aerospace economic development agency. Dragon capsules land in the ocean and require boat transport back to KSC.

SpaceX Crew Dragon and eventually Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner have some cargo capacity as well, but their main goal is taking humans to and from the station, and neither will land as close to KSC as Dream Chaser, which is designed to glide back to a runway just like the space shuttles did.

The Sierra Space Dream Chaser spacecraft takes shape at the company's Colorado facilities in 2022. — The Sierra Space Dream Chaser spacecraft takes shape at the company’s Colorado facilities in 2022.

“The Dream Chaser spaceplane is hands-down the best way home,” said SNC official Janet Kavandi. “A runway landing is the optimum solution for both humans and science.”

The spacecraft has been in the works for more than 13 years.

Sierra Nevada became the first commercial user of Space Florida’s FAA Re-entry Site Operator License at the facility. The runway has been used for other reasons since 2011, including the landing of two of the Air Force’s unmanned X-37B space plane missions.

Under Space Florida, though, the runway will be used along with its support facilities during testing and landing, which will help Dream Chaser earn its FAA re-entry license, needed before its first ISS mission.

The vehicle has made successful drop tests outside of Florida from high altitudes to show its ability to land safely. Its next stop this year will be NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio for months of testing before heading to Kennedy Space Center.

This spring NASA updated its mission assignments under CRS-2, with more flights given to SpaceX and Northrop Grumman, but Sierra Space was still assigned three flights. That number could grow. Sierra Space said it has a minimum of six flights to the ISS as part of the contract.

When it flies, it will be captured by the ISS’s robotic arm and then attached to the Harmony module, the same as Dragon and Cygnus.

The unmanned, 30-foot-long vehicle can deliver up to 12,125 pounds of supplies and can remain attached to the ISS and become an extension of the workable space. The roadmap calls for a crew version configuration with room up to seven crewmembers and supplies.

Sierra Space has partnered with Blue Origin to pursue a commercial space station called Orbital Reef, and the Dream Chaser could become an essential crew and cargo spacecraft for it.