Main Engine Cut OffDream Chaser and the UN
Some pretty cool stuff in the Sierra Nevada press release:
The first-ever United Nations space mission is intended to launch in 2021 and will allow United Nations Member States to participate in a 14-day flight to low-Earth orbit (LEO) on SNC’s Dream Chaser spacecraft.
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Countries selected to provide mission payloads will be asked to pay a pro-rated portion of the mission cost, based on the resources required to host the payload and their ability to pay. In addition, major sponsors are being sought to finance a large portion of the mission costs.
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SNC’s Dream Chaser is the only reusable, lifting-body, multi-mission-spacecraft capable of landing at commercial airports or spaceports able to accommodate large commercial aircraft – anywhere in the world. This offers the opportunity to land the United Nations mission in any licensed Member State supplying a payload on the mission. SNC is currently working with airports and spaceports to be granted a Federal Aviation Administration reentry license for commercial Dream Chaser missions.
Sierra Nevada is finding every way it can to make Dream Chaser a reality. Their sticktoitiveness makes you believe we’ll see the crewed version launch at some point in the next decade.
I’m pleasantly surprised at the way the Dream Chaser segment of SNC can operate like a young, nimble team, even within such an old aerospace company.