It is reusable, has wings that allow it to fly back to Earth, can carry seven astronauts and runs on a hybrid engine partly powered by laughing gas.
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Designed to launch atop an Atlas V rocket, the craft could see Nasa not only launch its own explorers into space again - instead of continuing to rely on ageing Russian Soyuz technology - but also return them home without ditching in the sea (or the Kazakh desert).
This artist's rendering provided by Sierra Nevada Space Systems shows the company's Dream Chaser spacecraft docking with the International Space Station. NASA has picked three aerospace companies to build small rocketships to take astronauts to the International Space Station. This is the third phase of NASA's efforts to get private space companies to take over the job of the now-retired space shuttle. The space agency is giving them more than $1.1 billion. Two of three ships are capsules like in the Apollo era and the third is a lifting body that is closer in design to the space shuttle. (AP Photo/Sierra Nevada Space Systems) (credit:AP)
Dream Chaser(02 of09)
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Dream Chaser(03 of09)
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Dream Chaser(04 of09)
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Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Space Systems' Dream Chaser engineering test article is prepared for shipment at the company's facility in Louisville, Colo. (credit:Sierra Nevada)
Dream Chaser(05 of09)
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Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Space Systems' Dream Chaser engineering test article is prepared for shipment at the company's facility in Louisville, Colo. (credit:Sierra Nevada Corp)
Dream Chaser(06 of09)
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Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Space Systems' Dream Chaser engineering test article is prepared for shipment at the company's facility in Louisville, Colo. (credit:Sierra Nevada Corp)
Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser Spacecraft Under Development(07 of09)
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BOULDER, CO - FEBRUARY 5: In this photo provided by NASA, Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft is seen as NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver talks during a press conference at the University of Colorado at Boulder on February 5, 2011 in Boulder, Colorado. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft is under development with support from NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program to provide crew transportation to and from low Earth orbit. NASA is helping private companies develop innovative technologies to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in future space endeavors. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser Spacecraft Under Development(08 of09)
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BOULDER, CO - FEBRUARY 5: In this photo provided by NASA, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver talks during a press conference with Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft in the background at the University of Colorado at Boulder on February 5, 2011 in Boulder, Colorado. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft is under development with support from NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program to provide crew transportation to and from low Earth orbit. NASA is helping private companies develop innovative technologies to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in future space endeavors. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser Spacecraft Under Development(09 of09)
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BOULDER, CO - FEBRUARY 5: In this photo provided by NASA, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver talks during a press conference with Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft in the background at the University of Colorado at Boulder on February 5, 2011 in Boulder, Colorado. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft is under development with support from NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program to provide crew transportation to and from low Earth orbit. NASA is helping private companies develop innovative technologies to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in future space endeavors. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
And while it's only one of several craft being developed by private companies vying for Nasa funding, along with projects by SpaceX, Boeing and others, it is the only true 'space plane' in development.
The Dream Chaser recently arrived at Nasa's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. There are no guarantees that it will ever be fully built, let alone make it to space, but if the tests are successful Sierra Nevada could receive the funding needed to push the 'Dream' towards reality.
"Unique public-private partnerships like the one between Nasa and Sierra Nevada Corporation are creating an industry capable of building the next generation of rockets and spacecraft that will carry US astronauts to the scientific proving ground of low-Earth orbit," said William Gerstenmaier, Nasa's associate administrator for human exploration and operations in Washington.
"Nasa centers around the country paved the way for 50 years of American human spaceflight, and they're actively working with our partners to test innovative commercial space systems that will continue to ensure American leadership in exploration and discovery."