Sierra Space has completed assembly of its first Dream Chaser vehicle as it aims for a launch of that spacecraft to the ISS as soon as next spring.

The company announced Nov. 2 the completion of the first Dream Chaser, named Tenacity, at its facility in Louisville, Colorado. The vehicle will be shipped in the “coming weeks” to NASA’s Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility, the former Plum Brook Facility, in Ohio for environmental testing.

Sierra Space has not disclosed a target launch date for that first Dream Chaser mission, but Shields said that mission is currently planned for launch “some time in March.” That date will depend not only on the readiness of Dream Chaser itself but also the Vulcan launch vehicle. The launch will be the second flight of Vulcan, after an inaugural launch in late December of Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander.

  • burble@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    I wouldn’t call it complete until it’s done with the test campaign. Even if the tests should be a formality, it’s a new vehicle…

    • ɔiƚoxɘupEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      And suddenly I hear the farscape theme in my head…

        • ɔiƚoxɘupEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          The air date of the first episode of farscape was March of 1999 so it’s definitely possible that they got the idea there.