Sierra Nevada’s Louisville-born Dream Chaser passes latest NASA review, priming spacecraft for 2021 mission

Sierra Nevada Corporation announced Thursday that its Dream Chaser spacecraft had passed the latest in a series of NASA milestone tests, likely setting the stage for the aerospace firm to launch the first of its unmanned supply missions in early 2021.

Heralded as the successor to NASA’s space shuttle, the Louisville-born vehicle will bring supplies, science experiments and other cargo to the International Space Station without any crew on board. After several years of design and development, the project was given the official go-ahead from NASA in December.

The latest test, described in a news release as NASA’s Integrated Review Milestone 5, included demonstrations of the vehicle’s flight computers and software, mission simulator and mission control center. The company also was tested on its cargo capabilities using “high fidelity mock-ups of the vehicle and its cargo module, showing loading and unloading time and efficiency.”

In a statement, Sierra Nevada’s CRS-2 Program Director John Curry said, “This milestone is a great accomplishment for the team focused on operations development and demonstration. It shows we can operate the Dream Chaser from the ground, including getting critical science in and out of the vehicle.”

When the spacecraft does eventually take flight, the plan is to launch it atop a rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral and for the craft to use the facility’s runway on its return.

In 2016, NASA selected Sierra Nevada, SpaceX and Orbital ATK, later acquired by Northrop Grumman, as contractors under its Commercial Resupply Service 2 program to take supplies to the space station.

The spacecraft is expected to make six orbiting flights to the station as part of its mission.

The latest tests were conducted at the company’s Louisville facility and the NASA Kennedy Space Center.

“Our Dream Chaser team continues to successfully execute milestones as we move closer to getting this spacecraft into space,” Fatih Ozmen, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s owner and chief executive, said in a statement. “The orbital spacecraft is being built and this milestone demonstrates the vehicle keeps passing key reviews and is making great strides.”