Chasing the Dream – one of NASA’s potential crew taxis
by vinchi2c
dream chaser. photo from NASA
NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Program involves three alternative designs. Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser spaceplane happens to my favorite of the three. The other two designs are SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and Boeing’s CST-100 capsule. For purely aesthetic reasons, I prefer the spaceplane. It just looks cooler, you know? For some reason, I also get the feeling that the spaceplane have a bit more elbow room in the interior.
Thus far Dragon appears to be in the lead. Unmanned Dragon capsules have already launched to the International Space Station a couple of times on cargo resupply runs. However, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the little spaceplane. SpaceX has also recently unveiled their Dragon V2 crew capsule. (It looks a bit cramped in my opinion, but I guess we should get used to cramped quarters as opposed to the more spacious Space Shuttles.) It will be at least two more years until the Dream Chaser spaceplane is launched into orbit on top of an Atlas rocket. That sounds like a long wait, but time flies! (no pun intended.)
Best of luck to the three companies vying to send our astronauts into space!
Private Dream Chaser Crewed Mini-Shuttle Design Advances through Rigorous Wind Tunnel Tests
On a somewhat related note: I’ve always wondered whether the Air Force’s X-37 spaceplane (developed by Boeing) could be converted into a crewed vehicle. It is an autonomous robotic spaceplane, a bit tinier than the Dream Chaser. However, its payload bay dimensions are 7 feet by 4 feet. That would be large enough for a person to fit in. Perhaps there have already been super-secret crewed missions already. Who knows?
The Infringing Android 