Dream Chaser Damaged In Landing Accident At Edwards AFB

Posted by samzenpus on Monday October 28, 2013 @12:06AM from the any-landing-you-can-walk-away-from dept.

RocketAcademy writes "The test article for Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft suffered a landing accident on Saturday when the left main landing gear failed to deploy, causing the vehicle to flip over. NBC News quotes a Sierra Nevada engineer saying that the pilot would have walked away. Sierra Nevada Corporation is developing the Dream Chaser to support the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo program. It is not yet known what effect the mishap will have on Dream Chaser development. A number of rocket vehicles have suffered landing-gear mishaps in the recent past. Several years ago, concerns over spacecraft gear design led to a call for NASA to fund a technology prize for robust, light-weight landing gear concepts."

1 of 73 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

What a waste of taxpayer dollars... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-28 00:30 · Score: -1, Troll

With a crappy economy, record debts to China, and collapsing income, why is the US wasting its time with these boondoggles? At least in two months, the nation will be back on Cruz control and perhaps focusing on its priorities when it runs out of cash to pay its bills yet again.
The ISS should be a private venture, as it gives no returns whatsoever.