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Sierra Space ’s Dream Chaser spaceplane is off the manifest for United Launch Alliance ’s 2nd Vulcan Centaur escape due to scheduling delays , with an “ neutral payload ” taking its place , the rocket company said on Wednesday .
Sierra reportedly informed ULA that it had “ significant jeopardy ” toward making the September launching date and that it would “ step aside ” so the rocket companionship could move ahead with its corroboration with the Department of Defense , ULA CEO Tory Bruno said during a public press league . No doubt ULA is eager to move frontward with this high - stakes 2nd launch : It ’s the final stair before the new rocket can be certified to carry out national security missions for the Department of Defense ( DOD ) . ULAflew the first Vulcan missionat the showtime of the year .
The company is also planning on establish engineering “ experiments and demonstrations ” along with the inert warhead , though Bruno did not expand on what those might be during the press conference .
The rocket company also plans on launching at least two more Vulcan mission before the ending of the year . Those two national security department delegacy , dub USSF-106 and USSF-87 , are the first in a series of backlogged launches ULA has under declaration with the DOD .
In a separate statement , Sierra Space tell that despite the slipperiness , its first Dream Chaser spaceplane , phone Tenacity , is still on track for its maiden mission before the remnant of the year . Tenacity , along with its expendable Shooting Star cargo faculty , make out environmental testing , a series of tests that control the vehicle will survive the hardness of launch and orbital cavity , at the get-go of May . The plane was delivered to NASA ’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at the end of that month , where they are now undergoing last testing before launch .
Unlike SpaceX ’s Dragon or Boeing ’s Starliner , the 30 - foot - long Dream Chaser is design to land horizontally on a runway , like to NASA ’s retired space birdie . The spaceplane is design to deliver cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA , but it ’s been badly delayed . Back in 2016 , Sierra Space was award the Commercial Resupply Services 2 ( CRS-2 ) from the government agency , with the caller anticipated to set out fulfil those charge in late 2019 .
For its first mission , the first of seven under the CRS-2 contract , Dream Chaser will render 7,800 pounds of lading to the ISS . It will spend a sum of 45 days attached to the station before returning to Florida for inspection , refurbishment and reuse .
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Sierra is also planning a crewed edition of Dream Chaser , as well as an inflatable home ground faculty that could operate in broken Earth orbit as a private space station . The companyhas raised $ 1.7 billion to dateto surmount its various place projects .
