Sierra Space has passed yet another major benchmarkone that didnt involve inflating (and subsequently popping) space station module models. According to the startups January 29 update, the companys retro-futuristic spaceplane, Dream Chaser, recently demonstrated the ability to handle critical payloads destined for the International Space Station. Beyond the ISS, Sierra Spaces Dream Chaser Cargo System (DCCS) may also serve future orbital installations in similar capacities.Milestones like Sierra Spaces Joint Test 10B are needed to confirm Dream Chasers ability to handle specialized payloads such as vital scientific research, Pablo Gonzalez, Sierra Space Vice President of Crew and Cargo Transportation Systems, said in a statement earlier this week.Dream Chaser may arrive at the ISS as early as May. Credit: Sierra Space Last months test required coordination across multiple locations. While Dream Chaser itself was located at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, control rooms also participated in the exercise at Sierra Space in Louisville, CO, and the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, AL. During the test, Dream Chaser demonstrated the ability to exchange data between multiple payloads inside the pressurized cabin, air-cool capabilities, and the need to consistently maintain in-cabin power.Joint Test 10B focused on three payloads, all of which are potentially slated to be aboard DCC-1, Dream Chasers first official ISS mission currently scheduled to launch no earlier than May. The first cargo, a cryogenic preservation system designed by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will store scientific samples at temperatures anywhere between -95 and 10 degrees Celsius (-130 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit). The Powered Ascent Utility Locker (PAUL) from Sierra Space collaborator, Space Tango, is intended to hold a pair of CubeLab experiments requiring power during Dream Chasers ascent to the ISS. Finally, NASAs Single Stowage Locker is a standard compartment system frequently used to transport experiments and other materials to and from the ISS.[ Related: Watch a giant, inflatable space station prototype explode during its intentional ultimate burst ]Dream Chasers design is noticeably different from current reusable payload systems like the SpaceX Dragon or Northrop Grumman Cygnus capsules. Instead of parachute reentry systems, Dream Chaser is much more like a NASA space shuttle, and returns to Earth through a runway landing. The aesthetic callbacks arent an accident, either. As New Atlas noted on January 30th, Dream Chaser is based largely on the HL-20 Personnel Launch System, a spaceplane concept first developed by NASA in the 1980s. The HL-20 itself is descended from the US Air Forces X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane originally meant for missions during the 1960s.An earlier iteration of Dream Chaser was originally in the running for NASAs astronaut transport contracts, but lost out to SpaceX and Boeing. Sierra Space has since retooled the spaceplane, removing the passenger section and installing an expendable cargo module capable of ferrying 11,000 lbs of pressurized cargo along with 1,100 lbs of unpressurized cargo into orbit. During its return flights, the Dream Chaser Cargo System (DCCS) can also handle 3,860 lbs of cargo.Dream Chasers first transport mission is at least a few months out, but as Gonzalez explained this week, tests like these brings us another step closer to launch.The post Curvy spaceplane is one step closer to its ISS rendezvous appeared first on Popular Science.