NASA’s new space plane is getting ready to take flight

Washington Post ^ | July 29 at 10:06 AM | Christian Davenport

[kosciusko51]

Actually, the manned version had room for seven crew. The unmanned version should have a bit more room, IIRC.

[MasterGunner01]

NASA has reinvented the Dyna-Soar X-20 lifting body proposed by the USAF in the early 1960s. Cutting edge NASA “Muslim outreach” thinking?

[kosciusko51]

Aerodynamics drives the designs. You can either use a capsule and land using parachutes, or by a winged body. A lifting body is necessary, since larger wing cannot take the re-entry loads. If you have a better idea, the aerospace industry would love to hear it.

While the X-20 is the predecessor, there are a long line of improvements since then, culminating in NASA’s HL-20 lifting body, which the Dream Chaser is based on.

But the biggest differences is that this lifting body will be spaceworthy, unlike its predecessors. And it uses cutting-edge materials that did not exist until recently.

Finally, while NASA is paying for the ability to send cargo to the ISS, the development of the Dream Chaser is directed by SNC, not some middle manager at NASA.

[Dagnabitt]

Good post. Look forward to seeing this thing eventually launch and make it to the ISS. Would like also to see someone pay for a crewed version, even if NASA is saying no thanks for now.

[kosciusko51]

Thank you. I would love to see this manned as well.

[MasterGunner01]

NASA has lost its way. NASA is nothing more that a slow, cumbersome bureaucracy that stumbles and lurches along in fits and starts. I believe that real exploration and exploitation of space should be done in the private sector. They have the flexibility and quickness that NASA lacks. Unfortunately, NASA has the lion's share of funding.

[PAR35]

Impressive. A space craft that can go all the way to 13,000 feet and return.

Need to check my calendar. Is this 1959?

[Moonman62]

After the military screwed it up, it didn’t take long for them to lose interest. They abandoned the Shuttle long before NASA did.

[DAC21]

” NASA stuck with the original smaller design, the Space Shuttles would still be in use and we would have dozens of them in use. As with all government projects”

Maybe, but the ISS never gets built without the SS that was ultimately built due to its payload capabilities. Whether the ISS was worth is another discussion.

[Moonman62]

NASA is going to have more manned flight capability than it’s ever had within the next couple of years.

[Moonman62]

Looks like it has just about enough room for six bags of groceries and maybe some DVDs.

...

It will be able to lift 5500kg to the ISS. The Spacex cargo capsule lifts 6000kg, so it’s comparable. Both systems bolt an extra disposable cargo hold on to the rear for extra room.

[GingisK]

It just has to hold our dreams.

Do Italians dream of Empire?

[kosciusko51]

They are just checking the glide and landing capability, just like the did with the Enterprise shuttle. In the near future, this Dream Chaser will go to the ISS.

[kosciusko51]

Well, they will have one NASA-designed manned vehicle system, and several commercially-designed manned vehicles. But all, to some extent, are indeed funded by NASA.