Varda: The Space Drug Factory. Expanding the Economic Bounds of Humankind

Varda is launching the world's first commercial space factory aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, a test flight meant to show it can build in orbit and return a payload safely to Earth. The factory will orbit Earth for a little over a month before returning to the Utah desert in mid-July. If the mission goes well, Varda will crystallize the drug ritonavir in microgravity to explore how gravity shapes its crystal structure, which affects solubility and bioavailability. Co-founder and CEO Will Bruey and co-founder and chairman Delian Asparouhov lead the company, which is 874 days old at launch.