Sierra Nevada – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

Sierra Nevada confirms ULA will launch first two Dream Chaser cargo missions

July 22, 2017 Stephen Clark

Sierra Nevada and United Launch Alliance have announced the most powerful version of the Atlas 5 rocket, with five strap-on boosters and a twin-engine upper stage, will send the first two Dream Chaser cargo missions to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral in 2020 and 2021, a schedule that still must be confirmed by NASA.

Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser on the move in California

July 17, 2017 Stephen Clark

An atmospheric test model of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser spacecraft, a cargo carrier for the International Space Station that will take off on top of an Atlas 5 rocket and land on a runway, is undergoing braking and steering checks in California ahead of a flight test later this year, the company said Monday.

Sierra Nevada to resume Dream Chaser flight tests

March 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

An atmospheric test model of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser space plane is being readied for tow and landing tests at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California this spring.

Pegasus XL launch timeline with NASA’s CYGNSS microsats

December 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL rocket will take about eight minutes to reach orbit with NASA’s eight CYGNSS weather research microsatellites, then comes deployment of the spacecraft more than 300 miles above Earth.

Video: Inside the CYGNSS satellite factory and the Pegasus carrier aircraft

December 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

Spaceflight Now visited the CYGNSS production facility at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and the Pegasus XL rocket’s carrier plane at Cape Canaveral for rare looks at hardware that make NASA’s $157 million hurricane research mission possible.

Photos: Hurricane research satellites readied for launch

December 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

Eight miniature weather observatories, each the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, were installed on a specially-designed deployer module and mounted on the front end of an air-launched Pegasus XL rocket to prepare for Monday’s flight into orbit.

NASA-funded satellite fleet could give hurricane forecasting a boost

December 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

Eight mini-satellites packed snug inside a Pegasus rocket slung under a modified jumbo jet will fire into orbit Monday off Florida’s East Coast, launching on a $157 million NASA mission that could help forecasters better predict how strong hurricanes will be when they strike land.

NASA picks 6 companies to develop prototype space habitats

August 12, 2016 William Harwood

NASA has selected six companies to work on designs for deep space habitat modules that could be used by astronauts living and working near the moon as technology is developed for eventual flights to Mars, the agency announced Tuesday.

NASA splits space station cargo deal three ways

January 14, 2016 Stephen Clark

An unpiloted space plane developed by Sierra Nevada Corp. will join cargo carriers built by SpaceX and Orbital ATK to resupply the International Space Station beginning in 2019, NASA announced Thursday.

Round-trip rocket flight gives SpaceX a trifecta of successes

December 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

Flying through the sky at supersonic speed, a Falcon 9 rocket stage descended to a historic landing at Cape Canaveral on Monday, returning to the spaceport minutes after boosting 11 Orbcomm communications satellites toward orbit on SpaceX’s first mission since a major failure in June.