Dream Chaser Atop an Atlas-V Rocket

The Dream Chaser Space System is a commercial human transportation system to transport astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser Program is being led by Sierra Nevada Space Systems in Louisville, Colorado

Artist's concept of Dream Chaser atop an Atlas-V rocket, the launch vehicle which will send SNC's reusable spacecraft, and its crews, into LEO. Image Credit: Sierra Nevada.

The Dream Chaser landing after the Free-Flight test at Edwards AFB, CA

The Dream Chaser landing after the Free-Flight test at Edwards AFB, CA

NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center welcomes SNC's Dream Chaser engineering test article for a flight test program in collaboration with NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

SNC's Dream Chaser test flight craft is hauled across the bed of Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center

EDWARDS AFB, Calif. An Erickson Air-Crane helicopter lifts Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser flight vehicle during a captive-carry flight test. The test was a rehearsal for free flights at Edwards later this year. The spacecraft is under development in partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Although the spacecraft is designed for crew members, the vehicle will not have anyone onboard during the free flights.

Artist's conception of the Dream Chaser commercial human space transportation vehicle docked to the International Space Station.

Edwards, Calif. - ED13-0215-016 - Sierra Nevada Corporation SNC Space Systems' team members prepare to tow the Dream Chaser flight vehicle along a concrete runway at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California for range and taxi tow tests.

The ground testing will validate the performance of the spacecraft's nose skid, brakes, tires and other systems prior to captive-carry and free-flight tests scheduled for later this year. SNC is one of three companies working with NASA's Commercial Crew Program, or CCP, during the agency's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability, or CCiCap, initiative, which is intended to lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers.

A mockup of the Sierra Nevada Corperation's Dream Chaser spaceplane is submerged in the Neutral Buoyancy Research Facility at the University of Maryland, College Park. The facility, a part of the University of Maryland Space Systems Laboratory, is the only such facility owned by a university, and one of only three in the world.