Huntsville Airport, Sierra Nevada Space Dreams Coming True

It’s official! The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued the long-anticipated license to the Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority to operate the Huntsville International Airport as a commercial space reentry site. 

The license will permit the airport to become a landing site for Sierra Space Dream Chaser vehicles returning from future NASA resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS). The Reentry Site Operator License is valid for five years.

Huntsville International Airport submitted its reentry license application in November 2021 with FAA approval contingent upon the outcome of a lengthy evaluation process involving both environmental and safety reviews.

Those reviews revealed that there will be no significant environmental impact as a result of the Dream Chaser’s use of Huntsville International as a landing site. Criteria included air space, noise, historical preservation, wildlife, and impact on waterways within the anticipated reentry trajectory of the vehicle.   

The same Final Environmental Assessment findings apply to Sierra Space’s proposal to conduct up to eight reentry operations at the airport between 2023 and 2027. 

This accomplishment is a long time coming–the concept of a space vehicle landing site in Huntsville came about in 2014 with a consortium of public and private partners including Huntsville International Airport, the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, the cities of Madison and Huntsville, Teledyne Brown Engineering, Sierra Space, RS&H, UAH, the Military Stability Foundation, and the State of Alabama.

“We are excited about this next step in landing the DreamChaser in Huntsville and for the possibilities it brings to the science, research and space communities. Going forward, Teledyne will be involved in developing Dream Chaser missions that engage the engineers, scientists, researchers, and facilities in the Huntsville area,” said Reggie Spivey, VP of Space Systems at Teledyne Brown Engineering.

The Chamber identified landing the Dream Chaser as one of three pillars of the commercial space strategy it developed in 2016. Its efforts included the sponsorship of competitions with the European Space Agency, industry and academic workshops, exhibitions at the National Space Symposium and Space Tech Expo Europe, and a panel discussion on microgravity research and development at South by Southwest (SXSW) earlier this year.

“Huntsville has propelled us into another historic first for our state with the award of the commercial space vehicle reentry license for Huntsville International Airport,” said Gov. Kay Ivey. “We appreciate the collaboration exhibited by our public and private partners to make this a reality.” 

Mayor Battle sees great potential for scientific advancement as the result of this development: “This decision expands our science and biological experiments in space. We can send projects up and immediately get results upon landing. This opens many doors for our local and national companies in their ability to efficiently conduct scientific experiments in space and react on those findings,” Battle said.

“Our community continues to work together to accomplish incredible things, and this is another example,” stated Madison Mayor Paul Finley.

Although the obtaining of the FAA license is specific to Dream Chaser, this proof of concept supports other space reentry vehicles, each of which will require additional FAA licensing. Sierra Space has been awarded six missions by NASA to resupply the ISS via uncrewed vehicles and is pursuing the Reentry Vehicle License, which is anticipated to be submitted in June of 2022, with landings beginning as soon as next year.

“This is a significant milestone for Huntsville International and for our community in the pursuit of landing a commercial space vehicle right here in Rocket City U.S.A.,” said Mark McDaniel, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Port of Huntsville/Huntsville International Airport. “That’s going to be an exciting day, not just for the Airport but for the talented and dedicated partners in this effort.”

Images provided by NASA.