Varda Unveils First In-House Spacecraft for On-Orbit Manufacturing

Varda Space Industries is launching its first in-house built spacecraft, W-4, on a SpaceX rideshare mission, featuring a fully domestically produced heat shield and a new spacecraft bus design to enable high-frequency reentries and microgravity manufacturing experiments, supported by a five-year FAA reentry license for unlimited landings in Australia, as part of its plan to expand space-based pharmaceutical and research operations.