Posted on 09/03/2017 9:26:46 AM PDT by rktman
Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dream Chaser spacecraft as it took off from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California for a captive carry flight test on Aug. 30, 2017.(Photo: NASA)
If you blocked out the background scenery earlier this week, you could imagine the mini-shuttle was gliding through blue sky toward a landing at Kennedy Space Center, its future home.
Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dream Chaser actually was hovering above the Mojave Desert in California at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, tethered securely to a Chinook helicopter.
The so-called “captive carry” test was another step toward returning a winged spacecraft to orbit, with the Dream Chaser shooting for a mid-2020 launch from the Space Coast and landing at KSC’s former shuttle runway.
“I know that runway and I know that area like the back of my hand,” said Steve Lindsey, SNC vice president of Space Exploration Systems, who landed at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility five times as a shuttle pilot or commander. “Really looking forward to the day we actually get to fly into Kennedy and fly back into the SLF.”
(Excerpt) Read more at eccux.com ...
Thanks. Saw something about it being enclosed in a fairing for launch in the latest iteration. Don’t remember where I saw it though. I like it, but that’s just me.
I was thinking it looks like the old “lifting body” aircraft of the 60s.
Heck
No need to leave the state. Launch and land at Vandenberg.
LOL! Well, they do launch stuff from Vandy. The shuttle was acoustically too much for the surrounding environment or something. Coulda cause the San Andreas to go off.
Launching to the east reduces fuel costs. Fuel costs are not a consideration for Minuteman test, since trajectories can be scaled, but if you want to achieve orbit, it’s a big deal. East of KSC is water, east of Vandenberg is America. The debris from a failed launch landing in Austin or New Orleans would be a public relations disaster.
The mass of the space vehicle is a fraction of the mass of the booster, and the nastiness of the fuel multiplies the effect.
A booster rocket failed at Edwards once, and although there were no casualties, a whole section of dependent housing was closed down and abandoned.
Yup. There were a lot of things to consider when we first started thinking about launching shuttles from Vandy. Heck the transit time for the External Tanks from New Orleans to the launch site was around 30 days. A couple of my work buddies made those few trips. I only did the NOLA to KSC ones. LOL!
Roger that. Flyable reusable vehicle again. Guess it’ll be a mixed bag of crewed vehicles.
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I think the Dream Chaser that got the NASA contract will be cargo only.
The original design was to carry people, and I’m sure they’d like that, but it seems that capsules are the most economical and safest way to go for people.
The Air Force seems to love the winged platform for testing, though.
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