Dream Chaser tests underway

A Colorado company developing a spaceship to take astronauts to the International Space Station is testing landing-related elements at NASA facilities. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser will carry seven people and land like a plane. Astronauts are using a flight simulator at the Langley, Va., facility to simulate what it would be like to land Dream Chaser. The company has also delivered a Dream Chaser engineering test craft to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., to test the craft's nose strut, brakes and tires. (Source: AP via Washington Post, 05/16/13) Gulf Coast note: Lockheed Martin will assemble the composite structure for the first space-bound Dream Chaser at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.