Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser space shuttle finally has a new mission after losing a bid to Boeing and SpaceX to taxi astronauts to the International Space Station. That mission is to fly cargo for NASA. In addition to Sierra Nevada, Orbital ATK and the re-hired SpaceX are also tasked with flying cargo to the station.
Each company’s contract covers at least six cargo runs between 2019 and 2024. The Dream Chaser is capable of carrying up to 44,000 pounds of cargo, plus another 4,400 pounds of unpressurized cargo in just four flights every year. This exceeds NASA’s delivery requirement by 11,000 pounds per year. Crew transportation is expected to begin sometime in 2017.
