Dream Chaser closes in on its Dream.

NASA provides Dream Chaser with Authority To Proceed for maiden ISS mission

NASA has provided the milestone of "Authority to Proceed" to Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) for the Dream Chaser spacecraft's first NASA mission to the International Space Station. The launch atop an Atlas V to the orbital outpost has been provided with a window late in 2020.

From article, (NASA has provided the milestone of “Authority to Proceed” to Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) for the Dream Chaser spacecraft’s first NASA mission to the International Space Station. The launch atop an Atlas V to the orbital outpost has been provided with a window late in 2020. The cargo version of Dream Chaser is working under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services Contract 2 (CRS2).

It’s been a long road for Dream Chaser, with her development mainly focused on the crew capable version of the spacecraft.

However, the crewed Dream Chaser was sidelined from NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) when NASA chose SpaceX’s Dragon 2 and Boeing’s Starliner capsules for the transportation of NASA astronauts to the ISS.

 “The Dream Chaser is going to be a tremendous help to the critical science and research happening on the space station,” added Mr. Sirangelo.

“Receiving NASA’s Authority to Proceed is a big step for the program. We can’t wait to see the vehicle return to Kennedy Space Center to a runway landing, allowing immediate access to the science payloads being returned from the station.”

NASA and the ISS Program is expected to firm up the launch date early in 2020 based on Visiting Vehicle requirements and the status of the CRS2 vehicles.)

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