Dream Chaser Cargo Flights To Houston? Intriguing
Sierra Nevada Corporation and Houston Airport System Announce New Agreement
“Entering into this new agreement with HAS will lead to enabling all variants of the Dream Chaser spacecraft to land in Houston, offering the ability to return cargo and science to Houston directly from space,” said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNC’s Space Systems. “Through this agreement, we want to promote broad awareness of the importance of utilizing low-Earth orbit as a source of research, science and the expansion of space flight that are critical to Houston’s ongoing position as a ‘Space City.’ Houston has earned its place at the forefront of space exploration with such institutes as NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Rice Space University, the Texas Medical Center, the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership and many other organizations.”
The headline is a little misleading – they’re only planning to land in Houston, not take off from there.
Dream Chaser’s ability to land in a wide variety of spots is one of its chief strengths. Mentioning Houston is just a big suck up. More power to SNC.
Agreed that it’s a suck up. Flying and landing an automated vehicle like this in a highly populated area would be frowned upon. With no pilot on board, the “what-ifs” can get scary quick. It would be much easier to land the thing out in the California desert. If something goes wrong, auguring into the desert is preferable to auguring into Houston.
I may have spoken too soon. It appears that another space news site is reporting that SNC has signed an agreement with the Houston Airport System that will allow an uncrewed Dream Chaser to land at Ellington Airport’s Spaceport.
I don’t think that you spoke too soon. Ellington Airport’s Spaceport, a drawing board concept, would be located at Ellington Airport, an active airport surrounded by residential and commercial property. It’s in SE Houston, just off Interstate 45.