Is the Dream Chaser space plane ever going to launch into orbit?

When will Sierra Space's winged vehicle, Dream Chaser, finally take flight? Unfortunately, it's still not clear. Almost certainly, however, it won't be this year. The Dream Chaser space plane has now been under development for more than two decades, and it has a huge cult following because its winged shape mimics the iconic Space Shuttle. However, during a recent news briefing, a senior NASA official would only say this about a launch date: "We will be ready for them when they're ready to fly." The comments came from Dana Weigel, who is the program manager for the International Space Station. Sierra Space has a contract with NASA to deliver cargo to the space station, and its first flight is intended to visit the space station. Weigel was asked about Dream Chaser at a news briefing Friday, following the successful launch of the Crew-11 mission. "They're in final assembly," she said of Sierra Space. "They're doing a lot of tests, and they're doing what I call final certification work. Some of the big key areas that they're focused on is the software certification. You've got to test end-to-end all the different software functions. So that's a big focus area for them. And then they're still working on certification in the prop system." Propulsion system concerns There were some notable tidbits of news in this comment. First of all, it appears that NASA has learned its lesson from the first troubled flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which had significant software problems during its debut flight in December 2019. After this experience, it appears the space agency is requiring an end-to-end test of a spacecraft's flight software prior to visiting the space station. Additionally, there is the fact that Sierra is still working to certify Dream Chaser's propulsion system. The spacecraft is powered by more than two dozen small rocket engines, each capable of operating at three discrete levels of thrust for fine control or more significant orbit adjustments. These thrusters consume a mix of kerosene and hydrogen peroxide propellants rather than the more common, toxic hypergolic propellants that ignite on contact with one another.