After many years of development and testing, the Dream Chaser space aircraft, Sierra Nevada Corporation, called Tenasity, is at the final stage of preparation for its first flight to the International Space Station (ISS) planned for April 2024.
At the moment, Tenasity passes Environmental testing at the NIL NASA testing center, located in the research center Glenn. Testing includes an analysis of the ability of the spacecraft to withstand strong vibrations during launch and return, as well as extreme conditions of space space, including sharp changes in temperature and vacuum.
Tom Weiss, CEO of Sierra Space, emphasized the significance of this project as the beginning of a new industrial revolution in space. “Dream Chaser”, according to him, is a reusable commercial space aircraft that can land on any runway, as well as part of an ambitious program to create the first commercial space station.
Tenasity’s history is marked by difficulties: from refusals and purchases of companies to trials, engineering developments, flight tests and, finally, the choice of NASA in January 2016 for the delivery of goods to the ISS.
In November 2017, less than a year after NASA approval, Tenasity successfully passed the Free flight at the Edwards air base in South California, which became an important milestone for the apparatus and the development of the commercial space industry.
The main goal of Tenasity is to provide a more economically effective way to deliver goods and supplies to the ISS. Like NASA’s cosmic shuttle, it will be launched on a rocket, but to land like an airplane, which will strengthen its possibilities of reusable use. NASA has contracted at least six Tenasity missions to replenish the ISS reserves.
During the flight in 2024, Tenasity has to carry out a number of flight tests, including maneuvers within the zone of approach to ISS. Unlike the autonomous docking system used on the Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX, Tenasity will be associated and isolated from the ISS using Canadarm2 – a 17-meter robotic manipulator created by the Canadian Space Agency and installed on the ISS in 2001. Tenasity will deliver more than 3,500 kilograms to the ISS and will remain fisted with an orbital laboratory for about 45 days, after which the Canadarm2 will be sold out and