By Jerry Hume, Reporter Last Updated: Friday, January 24, 2014, 4:18 PM CAPE CANAVERAL --

The next generation of human space flight will launch from the Space Coast.

NASA and a private space company, Sierra Nevada Corporation, said Thursday it is now preparing to launch and land its Dream Chaser spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center.

The winged craft is similar to a shuttle and designed to carry crew and cargo to orbit heading to places like the International Space Station. Like the Space Shuttles before it, the Dream Chase will come back to Earth and land like a plane at the shuttle landing facility.

SNC will prepare its space plane in the same building as NASA's deep space Orion capsule.

Former astronaut Steve Lindsey commanded the final space shuttle mission and now works for Sierra Nevada. He said KSC is the ideal spot for this venture.

Go fly the mission. Come back, land there. Go through the O and C process with Orion; use the same workforce so that we can save money on both programs doing that. And complete the circle again. It's the perfect place for it

The Dream Chaser will launch on top of an Atlas V rocket on its first orbital test in 2016.

No word yet on how many jobs the expansion will create but Space Florida officials said it will be significant.

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Dream Chaser spacecraft to launch from KSC