The Dream Chaser space plane, a proposal by Sierra Nevada Corporation for a craft to carry astronauts to and from the ISS, had flight tests put on hold due to the recent government shutdown. With that over and NASA able to assist Sierra Nevada again, they were able to perform the first full free flight test of the craft. The test involved a carrier helicopter lifting Dream Chaser into the air and releasing it. Following release Dream Chaser successfully followed its predetermined flight path and lined itself up with the center of the runway for landing. Upon reaching the runway however, it experienced a malfunction in the left landing gear that caused a flip of the craft before it came to a stop.
The Dream Chaser is designed to use two landing gear and a forward skid on touch down. Currently, it uses a landing gear derived from the F-5E, but future versions will use a different type with electric actuators. Already planned are several more runway approach tests providing time to work out the issues in the first. Plans exist to build another test vehicle in 2014 for piloted landing test and abort demonstrations. The current tests are with an unmanned craft built to full scale, measuring about the third of the length of the Space Shuttle. Sierra Nevada Corporation gave a press conference about the test flight today noting it flew smoothly before the crash landing. More detail can also be found in the following links:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1310/26dreamchaser/#.Um9cJeLA-Yk
http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/37903snc-mission-accomplished-in-dream-chaser-test-despite-crash-landing
A video of the runway approach can be seen here: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1310/29dreamchaservideo/
Incidents aside, a mostly successful test is great news for the future of space travel, and NASA can only support companies like Sierra Nevada if it is well funded itself. Even private space industries would benefit from a Penny4NASA. If you agree, let Congress know: http://www.penny4nasa.org/take-action