Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Sierra Nevada Corporation Gets $80M From NASA

Louisville, Colorado-based Sierra Nevada Corporation, a systems integrator and electronic systems provider with operations in Louisville, Colorado, is one of four companies to receive major funding from NASA this week for work on NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev2) effort. NASA said this week that it is awarding Sierra Nevada Corporation $80M as part of its effort to spur development of commercially viable crew delivery systems. NASA is working on the effort as a result of the agency's upcoming retirement of the Space Shuttle. SNC's Space Systems Group is working on the Dream Chaser Orbital Space System, a piloted lifting body spacecraft based on NASA's HL-20 crew vehicle. The spacecraft is targeted at delivering payloads to the International Space Station. Other companies receiving grants were Boeing, Blue Origin, and Space Exploration Corporation (SpaceX).