Commercial space stations - fulfilling the dream

Best known for its reusable Dream Chaser spaceplane, Sierra Space (as a business entity of Sierra Nevada Corp) is contracted to NASA for resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) using its expendable Shooting Star cargo capsules. The company has also delivered its prototype of an inflatable habitat - the Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) - to NASA, and is developing life-support products for water processing and environmental management. And beyond that, Sierra Space plans clusters of interconnected space habitats where private space travellers arrive and depart on a fleet of privately-owned spaceplanes for science, manufacturing or entertainment applications in low Earth orbit. Following the announcement this spring that the Space Systems division of Sierra Nevada Corp (SNC) would be rebranded as a separate company known as Sierra Space, ROOM’s US Editor Amanda Miller caught up with the company’s Executive Vice President, Janet Kavandi and Director of Advanced Development, Neeraj Gupta.

Can you update us on the status of your major projects?