You want to go to space?
Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Louisville-based Space Systems’ will work with you to make it happen.
The company’s Global Project space-flight program, unveiled Tuesday morning at the 65th International Astronautical Congress
in Toronto, will offer any client access to low-Earth orbit aboard the Dream Chaser.
Space Systems will work with government, commercial or academic clients to develop a space program for their specific needs, allowing them to buy seats on a Dream Chaser flight or even purchase a craft of their own.
Clients also can tailor a Dream Chaser spacecraft specifically to their mission needs, including as manned long-term orbit, running scientific applications, unmanned flight and more.
The project is designed to assist countries that lack the resources to build their own space program, said John Roth, who is Space Systems’ vice president of business development.
“Human space travel is the pinnacle of human achievement and, except for a few rare exceptions, has been reserved for those relatively few countries with the wealth of resources to develop the capability or fly as part of a large space conglomeration such as the European Space Agency,” Roth said. “The Dream Chaser Global Project strives to bring a robust aerospace capability to client nations or industries to lead their own space program using the Dream Chaser as an enabling vehicle.”
Space Systems also is planning Dream Chaser astronaut training, based on NASA’s certification standards for crewed flights.
In the U.S., NASA astronauts will undergo training at the Dream Chaser Training Facility and Space Operations Center at Space Systems’ Louisville headquarters, with additional training at facilities around the country through partnerships with NASA, Lockheed Martin and others, company spokeswoman Krystal Scordo said.
Astronauts from other countries could be trained in the U.S. under their own nation’s license and certification standards.
“For Global Project partners, which require a more comprehensive training program, we will team with an SNC partner that has the specialized facilities for doing that,” Roth said. “There are multiple commercial companies that are being established to provide spaceflight training, and we have been in contact with them in planning the Global Project.”
The Global Project announcement comes on the heels of last week’s filing of a formal protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office over losing its bid for NASA’s commercial crew contract to shuttle astronauts to the international space station.
The $6.8 billion total contract had been split between Chicago-based Boeing Co., which received $4.2 billion, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which received $2.6 billion.
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or twitter.com/LauraKeeney
