Varda House Industries has obtained long-awaited approval from regulators to return its first spacecraft to Earth — and with it, a batch of pharmaceutical crystals manufactured on orbit.

Varda’s Winnebago capsule has been caught in limbo for months. The corporate launched the spacecraft on a SpaceX Transporter mission eight months in the past, with the plan to return it again to Earth final July. However Varda had been unable to safe the requisite regulatory authorizations to make a touchdown try, leaving the spacecraft caught in orbit whereas the corporate labored with regulators to carry it dwelling.

With this approval, Varda is now concentrating on a touchdown try on the Air Power’s Utah Check and Coaching Vary on February 21. The capsule incorporates crystals of the drug Ritonavir, which is used to deal with HIV/AIDS, that have been manufactured on orbit. Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft, which has housed Varda’s manufacturing capsule on orbit, will dissipate within the ambiance upon reentry.

“We’re extremely proud to have this chance with our authorities companions, and respect their dedication to protected innovation in the US,” Varda stated in an announcement.

In that very same assertion, the El Segundo-based startup notes that it was the primary to hunt permission to reenter a spacecraft beneath a brand new set of FAA rules generally known as Half 450. It’s additionally the primary time the FAA has licensed a industrial firm to land a spacecraft on U.S. soil. (SpaceX’s Dragon capsule is permitted to land within the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico.)

Varda is one among a handful of startups trying to exploit the advantages of microgravity for manufacturing supplies like prescribed drugs. The corporate is aiming to carry spacecraft containing manufactured supplies again to Earth as much as month-to-month by 2026. For its subsequent mission, which has but to launch, Varda stated it will land its second spacecraft in Australia’s Koonibba Check Vary this 12 months.