LOUISVILLE - Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems is shipping the DreamChaser spacecraft this week to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California for more testing.

Workers at SNC Space Systems in Louisville built the spacecraft and conducted initial tests on it in Colorado. SNC Space Systems workers will be in charge of the new tests on DreamChaser at the flight center at Edwards Air Force Base near Lancaster, California, according to Krystal Scordo, an SNC Space Systems spokeswoman.

DreamChaser faces a runway tow test, a ground resonance test and a "captive carry" flight, where it's carried by another vehicle, according to a company press statement. Once those tests are complete, the DreamChaser craft will go through a free-flight approach and landing test, the company said. The flight tests will help SNC determine the glide and landing characteristics of the spacecraft, the company said.

"We are one step closer to returning U.S. astronauts on a U.S. vehicle to the International Space Station, and in doing so, continuing the long-standing and proud legacy that was the Space Shuttle program," said Mark Sirangelo, head of SNC Space Systems.

The flight tests will validate aerodynamic data used to control the spacecraft when it returns from space in the future, Jim Voss, SNC's vice president of Space Exploration Systems, said in the press statement. The tests will be "a huge step toward providing our nation with safe and reliable transportation to the International Space Station," Voss said.

SNC Space Systems has been awarded more than $330 million in government contracts to advance the DreamChaser spacecraft to its current point, Scordo said. The company is a division of Sierra Nevada Corp., a privately owned aerospace company headquartered in Sparks, Nevada.