Dream Chaser, the private space plane built to shuttle astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station, is ready to leave the Earth.

In a news conference this afternoon, the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announced that Dream Chaser will blast into orbit in November 2016 atop an Atlas V rocket. Dream Chaser's first orbital flight will be unmanned and will test the space plane's autonomous landing system. SNC expects to launch its first manned orbital mission about one year later.

"SNC is thrilled to be the first company to confirm a launch date for our country's return to orbital human spaceflight, and the restart of human spaceflight operations from Florida's space coast," said Mark Sirangelo, Corporate Vice President of SNC's Space Systems, at the conference.

Dream Chaser, which hopes to take the place of the space shuttle in ferrying humans to orbit for NASA, bears a striking resemblance to its predecessor. Like the shuttle, Sierra Nevada's spacecraft is a lifting body, meaning it has wings to provide lift (as opposed to a capsule, like SpaceX's Dragon.) Inspired by NASA's SL-20 crew rescue vehicle, Dream Chaser was built with astronauts in mind. "The space shuttle was designed to carry a huge amount of cargo," said Steve Lindsey, SNC's Dream Chaser program manager. "[Dream Chaser] is primarily designed as a people carrier."

Dream Chaser will fly into orbit on an Atlas V rocket, a launch system closely related to the one that carried John Glenn into space in 1962. After a one-day mission that will test orbital operations, the space plane will attempt an autonomous, horizontal landing. Although Dream Catcher suffered a landing gear malfunction during its first free flight landing last year, SNC officials are confident that they will be ready for orbit by 2016.

"We are planning to launch, we are building the vehicle to be launched, and we have made the commitment to launch," Sirangelo said.

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