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Old November 13th 17, 03:10 AM posted to sci.space.policy
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Default The Dream Chaser spacecraft has completed a successful free flight

"On Saturday, the Dream Chaser space plane completed a milestone in its
development. During an “approach and landing” test, the spacecraft was dropped
from a helicopter to fly back to a landing strip at Edwards Air Force Base in
California. The company behind the space plane confirmed the successful test in a
tweet on Saturday night, saying, “The Dream Chaser had a beautiful flight and
landing!”"

See:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017...l-free-flight/


=============================

And now for the bad news.

=============================


Suborbital Spaceplane company XCOR files for bankruptcy:

"Xcor was making a suborbital reusable launch vehicle (a suborbital spaceplane).

XCOR filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Wednesday in the Eastern District of
California.

Money dried up for XCOR after its subcontract with United Launch Alliance wasn’t
renewed this year. In 2016, XCOR began development on the full scale 25k lbf
thrust liquid hydrogen engine, the 8H21, under a privately funded contract with
ULA."

See:

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/1...ankruptcy.html