A test version of Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser spacecraft successfully landed on a runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Saturday after a glide test flight. This test was conducted to assess the craft's handling characteristics and guidance systems ahead of upcoming resupply missions to the International Space Station. The unmanned spacecraft was released from a helicopter and touched down on Runway 22L at Edwards, the same strip previously used by returning space shuttles.

Sierra Nevada marked the achievement on Twitter, sharing four images from the Dream Chaser's flight test. This test had been anticipated and carefully planned, though it wasn't announced to the public beforehand. The company stated that additional details and images of the landing would be provided on Monday.

Approximately one-quarter the size of a space shuttle orbiter, the Dream Chaser was scheduled to be dropped from a heavy-duty carrier helicopter at an altitude of about 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) for the approach and landing test, according to Sierra Nevada officials.

The spacecraft was lifted into the air by the helicopter, attached to a 200-foot (60-meter) lift line, and then positioned for release. The Dream Chaser’s onboard guidance computer was anticipated to control the ship using its aerosurfaces, guiding it to align with the runway for a steep final approach.

Just before touchdown, two main landing gear wheels and a nose skid extended from the bottom of the spaceplane. Sierra Nevada is collaborating with NASA to develop the Dream Chaser, which will transport cargo and experiments to the space station. The spaceplane will launch atop a rocket and land on a runway, enabling the rapid return of equipment and experiment specimens to engineers and scientists.

Initially based on NASA's HL-20 lifting body design and intended to transport astronauts, the Dream Chaser has evolved into an automated cargo vessel. As a finalist in NASA’s commercial crew program, alongside capsule designs from Boeing and SpaceX, the Dream Chaser secured over $360 million in government funding commitments to aid in its design and testing processes.

In 2014, NASA chose Boeing and SpaceX to complete their crew capsules after a competitive process, leaving Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser with an uncertain future. However, Sierra Nevada engineers redesigned the spaceplane for cargo missions and secured a lucrative NASA contract in January 2016 for at least six round-trip flights to and from the space station.

The Dream Chaser's first orbital flight is expected around 2020, launching aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, and likely landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Sierra Nevada is investing its own funds into the Dream Chaser program and is responsible for development testing. While the financial details of NASA’s resupply contract have not been disclosed, the deal is believed to be worth more than $1 billion.

The successful landing on Saturday occurred over four years after the same Dream Chaser test vehicle crash-landed during its initial approach and landing demonstration. On that occasion, the ship's left main landing gear failed to extend before reaching the runway, causing the Dream Chaser to lose control and skid to a halt.

Sierra Nevada stated that the 2013 flight was successful up to that moment, with Dream Chaser’s autopilot landing system guiding the craft toward the runway for a centerline touchdown.

Engineers attributed the mishap to a landing gear borrowed from a U.S. Air Force F-5E jet. Future Dream Chaser cargo missions to the space station will use a different landing gear, and the refurbished spacecraft that flew on Saturday was equipped with a landing gear more advanced than the one responsible for the issue in 2013. Engineers also upgraded the ship’s computer systems to resemble the orbital version of the Dream Chaser more closely.

Ground teams transported the damaged vehicle back to Sierra Nevada’s space division headquarters in Louisville, Colorado, for repairs and upgrades. The craft returned to the Mojave Desert test site in California in January for a series of tow tests and captive carry aerial flights under a helicopter to evaluate its braking and steering capabilities, radio telemetry links, and guidance and navigation equipment before officials proceeded with a free flight.

Sierra Nevada is poised to receive a multimillion-dollar award from NASA following the successful approach and landing test.

According to company officials, the test vehicle flown on Saturday was equipped with space-rated avionics and flight software intended for use on Dream Chaser missions to the space station. Lockheed Martin has collaborated with Sierra Nevada to create the composite structural shell for the orbital-class Dream Chaser vehicles.

The Dream Chaser can transport over 12,000 pounds (5,500 kilograms) of equipment to the space station within its pressurized compartment and on an external aft-mounted payload carrier. At the conclusion of each flight, the two segments will separate, with the Dream Chaser space plane returning to Earth carrying research specimens and other gear, while the disposable cargo module will burn up in the atmosphere to destroy trash.

Featuring a lifting body aerodynamic design, the Dream Chaser will weigh approximately 20 tons when fully loaded, likely necessitating the lift capacity of ULA’s most powerful Atlas 5 configuration, the “552,” which includes five strap-on solid rocket boosters and a twin-engine Centaur upper stage, as noted by Sierra Nevada officials.

Sierra Nevada also has agreements with the European Space Agency to explore using Dream Chaser to facilitate space access for European research experiments after the space station program concludes in the 2020s. Last year, the United Nations agreed to purchase a standalone unpiloted Dream Chaser mission to Earth orbit in 2021 to host research payloads from developing countries.