Category Archives: Space

Business, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

The Dream Chaser Test

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A report from Joel Achenbach, who’s doing a space project for the WaPo.

As I note on Twitter, Sirangelo’s comments aren’t spinning a failure. The vehicle met its test objectives, other than the ability to get it back, sans a lot of bondo. But as with SpaceX’s loss of their first stage in the ocean, they got the data they needed to move forward. And at least they’re flying and testing, something that NASA has been too risk averse to do of late.

Business, Space

Dream Chaser

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Ouch:

…the Commercial Crew prospect – after enjoying a perfect flight in the air – suffered a mechanical failure during landing, resulting in her flipping over on the runway.

Hopefully it’s repairable.

[Update mid-afternoon]

Here’s the official statement from Sierra Nevada, trying to put the best face on things. And Alan Boyle is reporting that preliminary reports indicate that it will be fixable. “The pilot would have walked away.”

It’s interesting that they did the test on a Saturday. I wouldn’t have thought that Dryden employees would be thrilled about working weekends. Though maybe it’s a better day for getting airspace clearance. We used to do a lot of weekend flying with the T-39 for parabolic flight out of Mojave, because the Air Force was more flexible in terms of giving us a big box of air to work with.