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Wikipedia dicit:

Dream Chaser Tenacity (DC101) is the first Dream Chaser spacecraft expected to fly in space. Manufactured by the Sierra Nevada Corporation, it will first fly to the International Space Station as part of the SNC Demo-1 mission in 2025, under the CRS-2 contract.

The Sierra Nevada Corporation was awarded a CRS-2 contract for by NASA for six operational resupply spaceflights to the International Space Station. SNC Demo-1 is a demo flight that will precede the operational resupply flights if the mission is successful.

Tenacity and other Dream Chasers will be mated with a Shooting Star module, which will provide an additional 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) of payload capacity, in addition to the 2,000 lb (910 kg) carried by the space plane. The module will be separated from the Dream Chaser prior to reentry and burn up in the atmosphere, while the Dream Chaser vehicle will perform a runway landing to be reused.

Dream Chaser is an American reusable lifting-body space plane developed by Sierra Space. Originally intended as a crewed vehicle, the Dream Chaser Space System is set to be produced after the Dream Chaser Cargo System cargo variant is operational. The crewed variant is planned to carry up to seven people and cargo to and from low Earth orbit. Sierra plans to manufacture a fleet of the space plane.

The Dream Chaser was originally started in 2004 as a project of SpaceDev, a company that was later acquired by the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) in 2008. In April 2021 the project was taken over by the Sierra Space Corporation (SSC), which at that time was spun off from the Sierra Nevada Corporation as its own fully independent company.

The cargo Dream Chaser is designed to resupply the International Space Station with both pressurized and unpressurized cargo. It is intended to be launched vertically on the Vulcan Centaur rocket and autonomously land horizontally on conventional runways. A proposed version to be operated by European Space Agency (ESA) would launch on an Arianespace vehicle.

The Dream Chaser space plane is designed to be launched on the top of a typical rocket and land like an airplane on a runway. The design has heritage going back decades. Currently, the Dream Chaser will resupply the ISS with cargo.

On-orbit propulsion of the Dream Chaser was originally proposed to be provided by twin hybrid rocket engines capable of repeated starts and throttling. At the time, the SSC’s predecessor, the SNC was also developing a similar hybrid rocket for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. In May 2014, SNC involvement in the SpaceShipTwo program ended.

After the acquisition of Orbitec LLC in July 2014, Sierra Nevada Corporation announced a major change to the propulsion system. The hybrid rocket engine design was dropped in favor of a cluster of Orbitec’s Vortex engines. The new unit would be a pressure-fed three-mode engine. At low- and mid-power regimes it uses monopropellant fuel – hydrogen peroxide – and in high-power demand, the engine adds injection of RP-1 fuel. This increased thrust will be useful to shorten the de-orbit burn duration of the Dream Chaser.

Its thermal protection system (TPS) is made up of silica-based tiles (for most of the belly and upper portion of the heat shield), and a new composite material called Toughened Unipiece Fibrous Reusable Oxidation Resistant Ceramic (TUFROC) to cover the nose and leading edges.

In 2019, it was announced that an expendable Shooting Star cargo module would be part of the Dream Chaser cargo system for CRS-2 flights. The module is a 15-foot-long (4.6 m) attachment to Dream Chaser that will allow the spacecraft to carry an additional 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to ISS. The module supports disposal of unwanted cargo by burning up upon re-entry.

In addition to carrying cargo, the Shooting Star module includes solar panels that supply up to 6 kW of electrical power. It also supplies active and passive thermal management; provides Dream Chaser translation and rotation capability via six mounted thrusters; and supports berthing or docking (in different configurations) to the ISS. Access from ISS to Dream Chaser will involve crew passing through Shooting Star (which supports a shirt-sleeve environment) and through a hatch that separates Shooting Star from Dream Chaser. Sierra Nevada says the module is capable of additional types of missions in LEO or to cis-lunar destinations; they have developed a free-flying variant with additional capabilities.

Video credit: Sierra Space

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Boeing Crew Flight Test (Boe-CFT) is the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner capsule. Launched on 5 June 2024, the mission flew a crew of two NASA astronauts, Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Williams, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to the International Space Station. The crew’s return to Earth, a planned 14 June ground landing in the American Southwest, has been delayed while Boeing works to diagnose various problems with the spacecraft.

The crewed flight test was initially planned to occur in 2017, but various delays pushed back the launch. The spacecraft’s first two uncrewed orbital flight tests of the capsule, Boe-OFT and Boe-OFT 2, took place in 2019 and 2022.

The spacecraft was integrated with the Atlas launch vehicle on 16 April 2024 in preparation for launch. The flight was scheduled for 7 May 2024 but was scrubbed about two hours before liftoff due to an oxygen valve problem on the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V. After the initial scrub, the launch was repeatedly delayed due to a helium leak in the Starliner service module. The second launch attempt was on 1 June, but was scrubbed 3 minutes, 50 seconds before liftoff when the ground launch sequencer computer registered a loss of redundancy due to a faulty power supply. The third launch attempt, on 5 June at 14:52 UTC, was successful.

During the flight to the ISS, additional helium leaks were discovered, though these were still too small to threaten the mission. As Starliner approached the ISS, five reaction control system thrusters failed, likely unrelated to the helium leaks. Resetting and firing the thrusters eventually made four out of five work again, and the Starliner safely docked with the ISS after a delay. The thruster malfunction looks identical to unresolved problems encountered during OFT 2 and will likely have to be fixed before Starliner is certified by NASA.

As of 23 June 2024, the spacecraft remains docked to the ISS. The return to earth flight was originally scheduled for 14 June, but is postponed indefinitely to some time in July, while the problems so far discovered are reviewed for the safety of the return flight.

Video credit: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

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SpaceX Crew-8 is the eighth crewed operational NASA Commercial Crew flight and the 13th overall crewed orbital flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. The mission launched on 4 March 2024.

The Crew-8 mission transports four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Three NASA astronauts, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and one Roscosmos cosmonaut, Alexander Grebenkin, were assigned to the mission. Jeanette Epps was previously assigned to Boeing Starliner missions.

Video credit: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Wikipedia dicit:

Dream Chaser is an American reusable lifting-body spaceplane being developed by Sierra Space. Originally intended as a crewed vehicle, the Dream Chaser Space System is set to be produced after the Dream Chaser Cargo System cargo variant is operational. The crewed variant is planned to carry up to seven people and cargo to and from low Earth orbit.

The cargo Dream Chaser is designed to resupply the International Space Station with both pressurized and unpressurized cargo. It is intended to launch vertically on the Vulcan Centaur rocket and autonomously land horizontally on conventional runways. A proposed version to be operated by ESA would launch on an Arianespace vehicle.

Video credit: Sierra Space

Wikipedia dicit:

SpaceX CRS-29, also known as SpX-29, is a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched on 10 November 2023. The mission is contracted by NASA and is scheduled to be flown by SpaceX using Cargo Dragon C211. This will the seventh flight for SpaceX under NASA’s CRS Phase 2.

SpaceX plans to reuse the Cargo Dragons up to five times. The Cargo Dragon will launch without SuperDraco abort engines, without seats, cockpit controls and the life support system required to sustain astronauts in space. Dragon 2 improves on Dragon 1 in several ways, including lessened refurbishment time, leading to shorter periods between flights.

The new Cargo Dragon capsules under the NASA CRS Phase 2 contract will land east of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean.

NASA contracted for the CRS-29 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date of launch, and orbital parameters for the Cargo Dragon.

SpaceX CRS-29 carries over 2,950 kg (6,500 lb) of cargo, where 2,381 kg (5,249 lb) are pressurized cargo with packaging and 569 kg (1,254 lb) are unpressurized cargo.
science investigations: ~1,012 kg (2,231 lb), vehicle hardware: ~491 kg (1,082 lb), crew supplies: ~681 kg (1,501 lb), spacewalk equipment: ~48 kg (106 lb), computer resources: ~46 kg (101 lb)

Video credit: NASA/SpaceX

Wikipedia dicit:

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully separates from the second stage of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket during NASA’s SpaceX 28th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff occurred at 11:47 a.m. EDT on June 5, 2023, from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida.

SpaceX plans to reuse the Cargo Dragons up to five times. The Cargo Dragon launches without SuperDraco abort engines, without seats, cockpit controls and the life support system required to sustain astronauts in space.

Video credit: SpaceX