NASA announced changes to its contract with Sierra Space for the use of the Dream Chaser spaceplane. The aerospace administration has effectively canceled the order for missions to supply the ISS, which had been guaranteed by a previous agreement.
The history of Dream Chaser dates back to 2004, when the American company SpaceDev began developing a spaceplane based on the HL-20 spaceplane concept, which was studied by NASA in the early 1990s. In 2008, Sierra Nevada acquired SpaceDev and was awarded a NASA contract to develop a manned transport vehicle to deliver crew to the ISS. It was designated Dream Chaser.
Ultimately, Sierra Nevada’s application lost out to Boeing and SpaceX in the Commercial Crew competition. However, the company did not give up and decided to repurpose Dream Chaser for cargo missions to supply the ISS. In 2016, it managed to get the spaceplane included in NASA’s program for delivering cargo to the orbital station. Under the contract, Sierra Space has received at least seven guaranteed flights. In 2021, Sierra Nevada’s spaceplane development division was spun off into a separate company, Sierra Space.
The assembly of the first Dream Chaser was completed in November 2023. In May 2024, the spaceplane was delivered to the Cape Canaveral spaceport, where it underwent a series of tests. At that time, it was assumed that it would be launched to the ISS by the end of the year.
According to Sierra Space, Dream Chaser successfully passed all tests. However, despite this, the launch did not take place in either 2024 or 2025. According to unofficial reports, NASA’s main concern is the spacecraft’s propulsion system. Experts are still unable to certify it. Perhaps their fears were influenced by the recent situation with the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, whose propulsion system failed during its first manned flight to the ISS.
The situation is further exacerbated by the time factor. NASA plans to decommission the ISS in 2030. The time remaining before the deadline is simply not enough to provide Sierra Space with the seven promised missions.
All this led to NASA’s decision to cancel the order. According to an official statement, Dream Chaser’s first flight will now take place in free mode without docking with the ISS. It is currently scheduled for the end of 2026. If the demonstration flight is successful, NASA may order missions to supply the ISS, but is no longer bound by any formal obligations regarding their number.
The actual cancellation of the contract was a major blow to Sierra Space. The company hopes to use the spaceplane to supply commercial orbital stations in the future. However, to achieve this, Dream Chaser has to demonstrate its reliability and be able to compete on price with Dragon and Cygnus spacecraft. Without guaranteed financial support from NASA, it will be very difficult for the company to accomplish this task.
