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Credit to Author: Becky Ferreira| Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2017 16:00:00 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n The Dream Chaser, a sleek space plane developed by the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), lived up to its name on Saturday by successfully landing<\/a> at California\u2019s Edwards Air Force Base after a free-flight test. <\/p>\n The uncrewed spacecraft was dropped out of a helicopter flying at an altitude of 12,324 feet <\/a>over the Mojave Desert. The Dream Chaser descended for 60 seconds, reaching speeds of 330 miles per hour, before touching down on the runway to come to a controlled stop, in contrast to its sketchier 2013 flight test<\/a>, which ended with it skidding off the tarmac. <\/p>\n Measuring about 30 feet (nine meters) in length, the space plane looks like a miniature version of NASA\u2019s retired Space Shuttles, and follows the same basic spaceflight logic. To get to space, the vehicle will be attached to a heavy-lift rocket and launched vertically, but on its return trip to Earth, it will land horizontally on a runway, ideally intact and ready to be reused on future missions.<\/p>\n