Watch: A helicopter drops a space plane from 12,000 feet!
Dream Chaser's Approach and Landing Test was carried out by the Sierra Nevada Corporation.
Nasa's next space shuttle will be the Dream Chaser which is now being built and tested by the Sierra Nevada Corporation. Called the Baby shuttle, it is touted to be the space agency's next workhorse.
The "Approach and Landing Test" (ALT-2) on 11 November was, in effect, a drop test done to fine tune the spaceplane's landing systems. The ALT-1 saw the plane skid off the runway as one of the wheels failed to lock into place.
Dream Chaser, however, nailed the ALT-2. In the video, the plane can be seen getting tethered to a Chinook, lifted to an altitude of 12,400 feet and using only its "lifting body design" was able to make it to the landing strip at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
No engines were fired up for this test, Nasa Spaceflight earlier said to IBTimes UK.
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