Louisville, Colo. – Aug. 23, 2012 – Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is pleased to announce that the company’s Dream ChaserSpace System has successfully completed its first milestone as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative. SNC presented NASA with a complete Program Implementation Plan Review, detailing the design, development, system testing, evaluation, risk reduction activities and flight testing of all systems planned for the 21-monthbase and optional agreement period.
“SNC is honored to receive an award under the CCiCap program to continue working with NASA to develop and fly our lifting-body spacecraft. We believe that the Dream Chaser will define the future of reusable and versatile commercial crew space transportation. Our team is committed to achieving all of our promised milestones, in addition to numerous other tasks supported by substantial SNC investment, on time and within budget to put American astronauts back into space on an American vehicle,” said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of SNC’s Space Systems.
“We have gotten off to a great start by rapidly completing our Program Implementation Plan Review with the NASA Commercial Crew Program management. We agreed to the plan for accomplishing a significant amount of hardware development, testing and the reviews necessary to advance the Dream Chaser Space System toward orbital flight. We will continue to retire risk and make significant progress in completing a safe and reliable spacecraft for NASA astronauts,” said Jim Voss, vice president of SNC’s Space Exploration Systems, which is producing the Dream Chaser.
SNC also is preparing to conduct its first Approach and Landing Test, mirroring the flight test of NASA’s space shuttle Enterprise. That test is scheduled for later this year and will be completed in conjunction with Dream Chaser’s NASA Dryden Flight Research Center team at the historic Edwards Air Force Base.
“NASA is very confident in the ability and capability of our CCiCap partners to make progress on their integrated spacecraft and launch vehicle systems,” said Ed Mango, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager. “We now have our team of engineers and safety experts ready to assist Sierra Nevada Corporation with the continued development of its Dream Chaser spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket combination.”
SNC’s CCiCap agreement will bring the Dream Chaser Space System one step closer to beginning the transportation of crews to low-Earth orbit. For information about Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems, including images and video of the Dream Chaser Vehicle’s Captive Carry Test, visit: www.SNCSpace.com.
Editor’s Note: Below is Sierra Nevada’s milestones for the next four months. The company has a total of 10 milestones to meet under the 21-month base period under the $212.5 million CCiCAP agreement. Sierra Nevada also has 31 optional milestones.
| No. | Description | Date | Amount |
| 1. | Program Implementation Plan Review. This is an initial meeting to describe the plan for implementing the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability Program, to include management planning for achieving CDR; Design, Development, Testing, and Evaluation activities; risk management to include mitigation plans, and certification activities planned during the CCiCap Base Period. | August 2012 | $30 Million |
| 2. | Integrated System Baseline Review. The Integrated System Baseline Review (ISBR) demonstrates the maturity of the baseline CTS integrated vehicle and operations design of the Dream Chaser Space System (DCSS) consisting of Dream Chaser spacecraft, Atlas launch vehicle, Mission Systems, and Ground Systems supports proceeding with the detailed CTS design. | October 2012 | $45 Million |
| 3. | Integrated System Safety Analysis Review #1. The purpose of the Integrated System Safety Analysis Review #1 is to demonstrate that the systems safety analysis of the Dream Chaser Space System (DCSS) has been advanced to a preliminary maturity level, incorporating changes resulting from the Preliminary Design Review, The DCSS consists of the Dream Chaser spacecraft, launch vehicle, ground systems and mission systems. | January 2013 | $20 Million |
Loading ...