NASA Puts Dream Chaser Commercial Spaceplane Under Its Wing For Hardcore Testing

Sierra Space has delivered its Dream Chaser spaceplane, Tenacity, to NASA for some hardcore training. The uncrewed spaceplane is scheduled to launch a demonstration mission in 2024 to the orbital complex of NASA’s commercial resupply services.

The Dream Chaser, built by Sierra Space in Louisville, Colorado, comprises two major elements: the Dream Chaser spacecraft and the Shooting Star cargo module. Dream Chaser is designed to be reused up to 15 times, and according to NASA is modified from the HL-20 spacecraft developed at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virgina. The Shooting Star cargo module is designed to support delivery and disposal of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to and from the space station. Ahead of launching the spaceplane, NASA will put Dream Chaser through the extreme conditions of launch and re-entry vibrations on the world’s most powerful spacecraft shaker table.


“At Sierra Space, we are ushering in the next industrial revolution with a business and technology platform that provides our customers with a complete turn-key solution offering space as a service,” remarked Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice. “Our platform includes Dream Chaser, a revolutionary, highly reusable commercial spaceplane with global runway access, and the first business-ready commercial space station, leveraging the most advanced expandable structural architecture that will exponentially decrease the cost of product development and manufacturing in space.”

Sierra Space touts one of Dream Chaser’s unique capabilities as no longer needing to plunge into the ocean. Instead, the spaceplane will be capable of landing at one of the world’s global commercial runways. These low-G landings are also said to be better for science, cargo, and crew. The company also has a second Dream Chaser vehicle in production, named Reverence.


After Dream Chaser and its Shooting Star cargo module are tested on the vibration table, the spaceplane will be moved to the propulsion facility for thermal vacuum testing. It will then be placed in a vacuum and exposed to low ambient pressures, low-background temperatures, and replicated dynamic solar heating. NASA says that this is the only facility that is capable of testing full-scale, upper stage rockets and rocket engines under simulated space conditions and conducting altitude hot fire.

Once all the tests have been completed, Dream Chaser and its Shooting Star cargo module will make its way to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for further launch preparations. It is currently scheduled for launch in the first half of 2024.