Company, NASA have sights set on 2021 for first mission to space station
By Judith Kohler | The Denver Post
Sierra Nevada Corp. opened part of its plant in Louisville on Tuesday to the public to celebrate the arrival of the primary structure of Dream Chaser, a winged craft scheduled to make its first flight to the International Space Station in 2021.
The 2,200-pound, all-composite structure is the core element of the craft. It was designed by Sierra Nevada and built by Lockheed Martin in facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, and New Orleans.
Now, Sierra Nevada Space Systems employees will start adding the mechanical, electrical and other systems they’ve built and tested. Fully outfitted, Dream Chaser will weigh 24,000 pounds.
“We’re going to do an employee event tomorrow so that all of our team that has worked so hard on this can come together and celebrate. And then we’re locking the doors” and we’re going to build, said Steven Lindsey, the company’s senior vice president of space exploration systems. “It’s all about building this thing and getting it to flight.”
Lindsey, a former astronaut who piloted two space shuttle flights for NASA and commanded another three, is among the Sierra Nevada employees who have been working on Dream Chaser for more than a decade. The company won a NASA contract for six missions through 2024.
The flight will be automated, so there will be no crew. However, Sierra Nevada has said it hopes to one day send a crew to the space station.
