Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has successfully completed another Dream Chaser milestone under NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreement.

The CCiCap Investment Finance milestone represents SNC's commitment to significantly invest its own dollars into the design, development and testing of the Dream Chaser Space System.

The milestone, which was originally scheduled to be complete in July, was completed in early June, a month ahead of schedule.

SNC is committed to the successful development and deployment of the Dream Chaser Space System by investing company resources in support of NASA's CCiCap program requirements.

The additional funding supports the purchase of equipment, facility expansion, modifications, upgrades and the purchasing or licensing of intellectual property to support programs.

"SNC is a privately held company that is firmly committed to invest SNC's own capital to support Dream Chaser. We believe it is critical to our nation to return a U.S. vehicle with U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station," said Eren Ozmen, SNC's president and chief financial officer.

"In these uncertain financial times of budget cuts and sequestration, it is even more necessary that the commercial crew partners step up and invest in their own programs. SNC has continued substantial finances to the Dream Chaser throughout the entire Commercial Crew Program."

One of SNC's investments in the program is the recent opening of a new facility that houses Dream Chaser personnel along with upgraded laboratories, including a new state-of-the-art flight simulator.

The new building is located in Louisville, Colo., close to SNC's Space Systems' current headquarters in the Colorado Technology Center.

"NASA is paying our Russian partners to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. We want to take that money, pay an American company for those transportation services and return crew launch capabilities to U.S. soil," said Ed Mango, NASA Commercial Crew Program manager. "This will only be possible if NASA and its partners continue to make this a joint endeavor."

In addition to this recent milestone, SNC has completed three major milestones under the CCiCap agreement, including the Integrated System Baseline Review, the Program Implementation Review and the first Integrated System Safety Analysis Review.

SNC completed milestone five ahead of milestone four, which is on schedule to be completed later this year. Milestone four will mark the conclusion of the flight test series that Dream Chaser currently undergoing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif.