Sierra Space at Shuttle Landing Facility Proposed Reentry Operations
Sierra Space proposes to land its Dream Chaser vehicle at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) to provide payload and cargo return services to potential government and private sector users.
Sierra Space's Dream Chaser is a reusable reentry vehicle capable of carrying payloads to and from low Earth orbit. NASA has contracted with Sierra Space to deliver supplies to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS-2).
The Dream Chaser vehicle would be launched as payload on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V at a different site, such as Cape Canaveral.
The reentry vehicle would reenter from west/southwest on an ascending reentry trajectory before landing at the SLF. Ascending reentry trajectories would include high atmospheric overflight of Central American countries as well as overflight of the southern half of Florida. The reentry vehicle would descend below 60,000 feet altitude above mean sea level (MSL) approximately 30-40 miles from the SLF prior to landing and would be operating below 60,000 MSL for less than 30 seconds before entering Cape Canaveral Restricted Airspace. The reentry vehicle would remain in the Cape Canaveral Restricted Airspace for the remainder of its reentry and landing at the SLF (approximately 2.5 - 3 minutes).