Dream Chaser to call Kennedy Space Center home

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — It’s official, Sierra Nevada Corporation has signed an agreement for Space Florida’s launch and landing facility at Kennedy Space Center.

The Dream Chaser will fly resupply missions to the International Space Station beginning 2022.

The company has been looking to accelerate its presence in low-earth orbit and that objective begins with “Sierra Space.”

Video: Sierra Nevada Corp. announces plan for low-earth orbit space station

Janet Kavandi, vice president of Space Systems, says Sierra Nevada wants to be ready to step in the day the ISS program ends.

“We want to be ready whenever the international space station comes to the end of its natural life. We want to have a space station up there, we want to have it proven out, we want to have the dream chaser flown and proven and flying people at that point time,” she said.

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Next year, Dream Chaser is scheduled to begin cargo missions to the ISS. The company also has plans for its own flexible modular commercial space station.

We’re actually here today to look for increased processing capability because we’re going to need some significant square footage to take care of the processing of these vehicles and the station components,” Kavandi said.

Frank Dibello with Space Florida says Sierra Nevada Corporation isn’t the only company expressing interest in the Space Coast.

“We have developable land and very strong candidates that are looking to locate out here that might both be doing spacecraft work but they are doing space, or satellite platforms and things that support that activity”, Dibello said.

Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana says the Space Coast is uniquely suited for this type of program.

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“You know, it’s the availability of these outstanding resources, it’s the availability of the outstanding workforce that is here on the space coast to be able to make this happen,” Cabana said.

The Dream Chaser spacecraft will undergo additional testing before finally arriving at KSC ahead of its first launch in 2022.

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