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Varda Space Industrieshas received long - awaited approval from regulator to return its first spacecraft to Earth — and with it , a batch of pharmaceutical crystal manufactured on celestial orbit .
Varda ’s Winnebago capsule has been adhere in limbo for calendar month . The caller launch the spacecraft on a SpaceX Transporter mission eight months ago , with the design to yield it back to Earth last July . But Varda had beenunable to batten the requisite regulatory authorizationsto make a landing attack , leaving the space vehicle stuck in domain while the company make with regulators to convey it home .
With this commendation , Varda is now place a landing try at the Air Force ’s Utah Test and Training Range on February 21 . The capsule contain crystals of the drug Ritonavir , which is used to treat HIV / AIDS , that were manufactured on orbit . Rocket Lab ’s Photon spacecraft , which has domiciliate Varda ’s fabrication ejection seat on orbit , will fire up in the atmosphere upon reentry .
“ We are incredibly lofty to have this opportunity with our government partner , and appreciate their commitment to safe instauration in the United States , ” Varda pronounce in a statement .
In that same assertion , the El Segundo - base startup notes that it was the first to seek permission to reenter a spacecraft under a new set of FAA regulating get laid as Part 450 . It ’s also the first time the FAA has licensed a commercial company to land a space vehicle on U.S. ground . ( SpaceX ’s Dragon capsule is allow to land in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico . )
Varda is one of a fistful of startup looking to exploit the benefits of microgravity for manufacture materials like pharmaceuticals . The caller is drive to add spacecraft containing manufactured materials back to Earth up to monthly by 2026 . For its next mission , which has yet to launch , Varda said it would bring its 2d spacecraft in Australia ’s Koonibba Test Rangethis yr .
