By Mike Wall www.space.com via The Huff Post1-30-13 A private space plane is slated to fly on its own for the first time in the next six to eight weeks, a key drop-test milestone in the vehicles quest to fly astronauts on roundtrip space missions.The Dream Chaser spacecraft, built by aerospace firm Sierra Nevada Corp., will be released by a carrier helicopter at an altitude of 12,000 feet (3,657 meters) or so, then fly back and land autonomously on a runway at NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center in California.The unmanned 30-second drop test will kick off a series of trials that culminate in trips to low-Earth orbit and back, potentially paving the way for contracted, crew-carrying flights to the International Space Station for NASA, company officials said during a press conference today (Jan. 30).The seven-passenger Dream Chaser looks a bit like a miniature space shuttle. Its about 29.5 feet (9 m) long and has a wingspan of 22.9 feet (7 m). For comparison, NASAs space shuttle was 122 feet (37 m) long, with a wingspan of 78 feet (24 m)....Continue Reading... See Also:X-37B Robot Space Plane Returns After 220 Days in Orbit On Secret Mission; Air Force Denies That Ship is a Weapon Secret Space Plane Currently in Orbit with Secret Mission Goes into Overtime Top-Secret Mystery Military Spacecraft Launched SHARE YOUR UFO EXPERIENCERead more >>
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