A new, smaller version of NASA's space shuttle is recuperating from a rough first landing.
The Dream Chaser space plane is being designed by Sierra Nevada Corp. It's vying to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station in four or five more years.
The Nevada-based company tested a full-scale model at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Saturday. A helicopter dropped the unmanned craft from 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) in a first free flight reminiscent of NASA's drop tests of the shuttle prototype Enterprise in the 1970s.
Everything worked well for the automated Dream Chaser model until the end, when the left landing gear deployed too late and the test vehicle skidded off the runway.
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