Reusable spaceplanes have fallen out of favor since the end of America’s Space Shuttle program, but Siera Space is one step closer to bringing them back. The company’s Dream Chaser vehicle, which is in development, has been docked with the Shooting Star cargo module for the first time at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility (ATF) in Ohio to enable it to undergo critical launch tests. The company hopes to see Dream Chaser in space for the first time in the coming months.

Dream Chaser and Shooting Star arrived at ATF a few weeks ago; Here, engineers assembled the spacecraft and then connected it to the world’s largest shaker system. At the agency’s Mechanical Vibration Facility, Dream Chaser underwent a variety of horizontal and vertical shake tests that simulate the type of mechanical stress a vehicle might experience during engine startup and combustion, Spaceflight Now reports.

NASA says there is no immediate problem with the spacecraft, but it will continue to shake for a few more days. Once this is completed, the Dream Chaser demonstration ship (the team calls it Tenacity) will head to the In-Space Propulsion Facility, also located at ATF. This laboratory features the world’s only high-altitude vacuum chamber large enough to house a full-scale rocket engine and launch vehicle. Here, Dream Chaser experiences pressure and temperature changes similar to those he will encounter during the mission.

Once this testing is complete, Sierra Space will send Tenacity to Kennedy Space Center for launch aboard the ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket. This will be only the second launch of ULA’s new heavy rocket; the first would be the ill-fated launch of the Peregrine lunar lander. The mission, America’s first lunar landing in decades, failed to reach the moon due to a fuel leak. I hope Dream Chaser does better.

Sierra Space said it hopes to launch Dream Chaser in the first half of 2024. It will conduct seven cargo missions to the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Supply Services program. If successful, Dream Chaser would be the third commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the ISS, after SpaceX’s Dragon and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus.

Like the SpaceX Dragon, Dream Chaser is reusable. However, the Shooting Star cargo module was designed to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere upon re-entry, providing the spacecraft with a convenient way to jettison debris from the ISS. Sierra Space plans to use Tenacity for the first four contract resupply missions to the ISS. The last three will be taken over by the next Dream Chaser, which the company calls Reverence. Dream Chaser is designed to run at least 15 times, but the company hinted it could take much longer.