Dream Chaser spacecraft to launch to ISS on ULA’s Vulcan rockets

Ken Ulbrich / AP
This Nov. 11, 2017 photo provided by Sierra Nevada Corporation shows the Dream Chaser spacecraft being lifted by a helicopter prior to a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The Sierra Nevada Corp. says its Dream Chaser had a successful free-flight drop test in the Mojave Desert on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017. (Ken Ulbrich/NASA via AP)
Carla Thomas / AP
Nasa announced the Sierra Nevada Corp. will join SpaceX and Orbital ATK in launching cargo to the International Space Station. These flights, yet to be finalized, will run through 2024.
Ken Ulbrich / AP
This Nov. 11, 2017 photo provided by Sierra Nevada Corporation shows the Dream Chaser spacecraft landing after a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The Sierra Nevada Corp. says its Dream Chaser had a successful free-flight drop test in the Mojave Desert on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017. (Ken Ulbrich/NASA via AP)
Ken Ulbrich /NASA via AP
In this June 27, 2013 photo provided by NASA, Sierra Nevada Corp. engineers and technicians prepare the Dream Chaser engineering test vehicle for tow tests at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. On Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, NASA announced the Sierra Nevada Corp. will join SpaceX and Orbital ATK in launching cargo to the International Space Station. These flights, yet to be finalized, will run through 2024.
/ AP
This Nov. 19, 2010 photo provided by Sierra Nevada Space Systems shows the company's first test vehicle, for the Dream Chaser spacecraft, DC1, which shows the Dream Chaser on its way to start structural testing. The company hopes that by 2014 the Dream Chaser will makes its first orbital flight and then eventually take space travelers to the International Space Station. NASA's effort to farm out astronaut trips to the International Space Station to private companies over the next decade is under fire again, this time by federal deficit hit men. (AP Photo/Sierra Nevada Space Systems) NOSALES
Matt Hartman / AP
Sierra Nevada Corp's "Dream Chaser" test spacecraft is prepared to be lifted by a helicopter for a test at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. The test version of a spacecraft resembling a mini space shuttle was carried aloft over the Mojave Desert by a helicopter in a precursor to a free flight in which it will be released to autonomously land on a runway as it would in an actual return from orbit. Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser craft was lifted off the ground at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base and was carried to the same altitude and flight conditions it will experience before release in a free flight. (Matt Hartman via AP)
/ AP
This artist's rendering provided by Sierra Nevada Space Systems shows the company's Dream Chaser spacecraft docking with the International Space Station. NASA has picked three aerospace companies to build small rocketships to take astronauts to the International Space Station. This is the third phase of NASA's efforts to get private space companies to take over the job of the now-retired space shuttle. The space agency is giving them more than $1.1 billion. Two of three ships are capsules like in the Apollo era and the third is a lifting body that is closer in design to the space shuttle. (AP Photo/Sierra Nevada Space Systems)

By Richard Tribou | rtribou@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

PUBLISHED: August 14, 2019 at 3:33 p.m. | UPDATED: August 14, 2019 at 7:33 p.m.

Right now resupply missions to the International Space Station from the U.S. are handled by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman, but Sierra Nevada Corp. is poised to send what looks like a mini space shuttle on missions starting in 2021.

The Dream Chaser spacecraft has been approved by NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract to fly six missions to the ISS, and SNC has announced a partnership with United Launch Alliance to fly on board its upcoming Vulcan rockets for those six missions.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus capsules do not return to Earth while SpaceX’s Dragon capsules are recovered at sea, but the Dream Chaser is designed to glide back to a runway.

“50 years after Apollo days, believe it or not we are still using capsules, the high G entry and splashing in the ocean for our cargo and crew both,” said SNC CEO and Owner Fatih Ozmen. “So Dream Chaser makes it very unique coupled with the reliability, and reusability and the cost effectiveness of the Vulcan rocket and ULA’s capability.”

The vehicle has made two successful drop tests from high altitudes to show its ability to land safely, and was chosen in early 2018 to become the third private company to perform resupply missions to the space station after missing out to SpaceX and Boeing on the crewed ISS mission contracts.

The plans for the six resupply missions will have Dream Chaser go into orbit and be captured by the ISS’s robotic arm and then attached to the Harmony module, the same as Dragon and Cygnus.

The unmanned, 30-foot-long vehicle can deliver up to 12,125 pounds of supplies and can remain attached to the ISS and become an extension of the workable space.

The Dream Chaser has been in the works for more than 11 years. It will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on ULA’s rockets, and return to Kennedy Space Center to land on the runway that used to be used during the space shuttle program. The company touts the access and speed for returning science payloads to the ISS as one of the benefits offered by the company’s vehicle opposed to what SpaceX can offer with Dragon.

With the partnership with ULA, its first mission will be on Vulcan’s planned second certification flight. That puts the flight in the first half of 2021. Technically though, Dream Chaser can also fly on ULA’s Atlas rockets if need be.

“So it give us working with ULA, although Dream Chaser is designed as a rocket launch agnostic space vehicle, it gives us a unique capability, and additional diversification and additional assured access to space for our customers,” Ozmen said.

The new Vulcan rocket is currently under construction, using a lot of parts that are either already being used, or will soon be used on ULA’s Atlas launches. The big piece still in the works, though, are the BE-4 engines being developed by Blue Origin.

ULA CEO Tory Bruno was on hand for the announcement.

“It’s especially important to me because I have been a fan and a supporter and a cheerleader of this amazing vehicle from the first moment I saw it,” Bruno said. “So we commit to you that we are going to bring all of our experience, all of our skill and our discipline in launching this vehicle to taking your dream to space.”