Reuters is reporting that Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which jointly operate United Launch Alliance (ULA), are in talks to sell their rocket business to Sierra Space, a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corp., an increasingly influential defense contractor that recently landed a $13 billion deal to build the federal government’s new Survivable Airborne Operations System based on five used Boeing 747-8s.

• READ MORE: NASA Sets Tentative End-of-Month Deadline on Starliner Decision

The talks about the rocket business are in their early stages, and ULA has previously tried to unload it without success.

The company competes with SpaceX to launch government payloads into orbit. Reuters said the company should bring in between $2 billion-$3 billion and could fit Sierra Nevada’s plan to bring its Dream Chaser spaceplane to market and service the space station it’s planning to build in partnership with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

• READ MORE: NASA Investigation Finds Boeing Hindering Americans’ Return to Moon

Meanwhile, NASA officials say they continue to consider options to return two test pilot astronauts to Earth after an extended stay, but it seems unlikely Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will be going back on the Boeing Starliner crew capsule.

A decision on whether to use the problematic capsule must be made by the end of August.

• READ MORE: NASA: Starliner Astronauts May Not Return Until February

NASA officials told reporters last week that it’s considering a variety of alternative plans to get them home, including leaving them on the International Space Station for another six months as substitute members of a new four-member crew that will launch to the ISS for a six-month tour in September. Instead of bringing four astronauts, the SpaceX rocket would have two crew on board who would return with Williams and Wilmore after their tour is complete.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

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On May 14, the FAA approved Huntsville International Airport (KHSV) to operate as a commercial space reentry site, where the Space Shuttle-esque Dream Chaser will begin making reentries from low-Earth orbit (LEO).

The Dream Chaser is the reusable re-entry vehicle designed by Sierra Space to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS-2) program by NASA. The spaceplane could begin landing in Huntsville as soon as next year.

Dream Chaser will operate with two configurations, crewed and uncrewed, both of which will be reusable for more than 15 launches and runway landings. Sierra Space and other commercial space companies will still have to apply for their individual licenses to operate out of KHSV, according to the FAA.

• READ MORE: Sierra Space One Step Closer to Landing Spaceplane at Alabama Airport

In December 2021, the FAA held a public hearing on Sierra Space’s spaceport proposal, which garnered support from local residents. According to the FAA, Dream Chaser will create a sonic boom upon re-entry, but Sierra Space claims the noise level will be similar to that of a clap of thunder.

“The Huntsville community, of course, has a long history of supporting advanced spaceflight and other aerospace technologies and is fortunate to have an airport with two long runways and advanced safety resources, including crash and response and all that within a vast physical airfield area,” said Mark Spencer, a local resident and founder of Avilution, an avionics company.

Huntsville has long been home to many historic space travel efforts, including NASA’s upcoming Space Launch System (SLS), which is set to make its first trip to the moon this summer.

• READ MORE: Huntsville Airport Could Become Commercial Spaceport

While rockets and spacecraft may be built in Huntsville, not all the residents are happy to hear that one may be landing there, such as local resident Robert Kendall.

“In Huntsville, we build rockets. We have a NASA engineering type of community, and we love what we do. But we do not launch the rockets from here, nor do we land them here,” he said during the hearing.

Sierra Space has not set a date for the first flights of the Dream Chaser.

The post FAA Approves New Spaceport in Huntsville, Alabama appeared first on FLYING Magazine.