Drug Manufacturing Spacecraft Finally Cleared to Return to Earth

After eight months in orbit, with a good portion of that spent battling regulators, a spacecraft used to manufacture drugs off Earth is finally coming home — with its space-age pharmaceuticals in tow.

But things didn't go as planned, and the startup struggled to obtain permission to come back from the US Federal Aviation Administration. Now, over half a year later, the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportion has finally issued the reentry permit, and Varda can breathe a sigh of relief. For this mission, Varda's first, the company manufactured crystals for the drug ritonavir, which is used to treat HIV/AIDS. As well as potentially heralding an era of microgravity manufacturing, it's the first time a commercial company has been licensed by the FAA to land on US soil, Varda said in the statement.Varda's capsule was launched on the SpaceX Transporter-8 mission in June.

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