With Aerospace Perceptions delving into the realms of both aviation and spaceflight, Sierra Space have hit the sweet spot in interest with their Dream Chaser program – a lifting-body spaceplane. But it’s been a long time coming.
How long? It reminds me of when I was writing a book about early aerodynamic programs in motorsports. I went to interview several aerodynamicists at Chrysler’s headquarters who had previously worked at the company’s missile division in Alabama. When I arrived, I had to cool my heels because the wind tunnel was hosting several models that needed to be hidden – vehicles planned for five to ten years in the future.
When I covered STS-135 in 2011 – the final flight of the Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis and the conclusion of that entire program – Sierra Nevada Corporation had a presence at Kennedy Space Center’s media operations with an early concept design of their Dream Chaser spaceplane. The spin-off Sierra Space Corporation was formed in 2021, and here we are now, just over a dozen years from the STS-135 mission. Dream Chaser is finally on the horizon of an actual mission.
To get to this point it took tenacity, and that’s exactly the name Sierra Space chose for its first operational spaceplane, following up on engineering test vehicles. Tenacity – officially designated DC-101 Tenacity – was completed in November 2023.
Tenacity’s first voyage will be one that is earthbound, from Sierra Space’s Colorado headquarters to Ohio’s Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility. There the vehicle will undergo a series of environmental tests to prove its space-worthiness.
If all goes well, Tenacity will then initiate Dream Chaser space operations later this year as a cargo vehicle, supplying the International Space Station. Launched into orbit via a Vulcan Centaur rocket developed by United Launch Alliance, Tenacity will then return to earth upon completion of the ISS resupply, making use of its unique design to land on a conventional runway.
The planned near-future flight to the ISS will be the first outing of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser Cargo System; crewed vehicles are planned to follow under the Dream Chaser Space System program, beginning in 2025.
For more on Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser efforts, please visit:
