NASA has approved Sierra Nevada Corp.’s full program implementation plan for the company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft that is contracted for at least six cargo delivery services to and from the International Space Station between 2019 and 2024.
SNC said Monday that NASA evaluated the company’s design, development, test and evaluation methods in efforts to meet technical performance and integration schedules for the Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract Sierra Nevada is one of three awardees for.
The space agency chose SNC along with Orbital ATK and SpaceX in January for the CRS-2 program scheduled to start in late 2019 and NASA will award task orders for flights to the ISS on an individual, “as-needed” basis.
SNC plans to resume the next round of flight tests on Dream Chaser later this year.
NASA also reviewed SNC’s plan to obtain licenses from other government agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Aviation Administration for Dream Chaser flights.