Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB), a global leader in launch services, has announced the successful deployment of its spacecraft for Varda Space Industries is successfully operating in orbit after launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base today on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 mission.

Rocket Lab's spacecraft provides vital power, communications, propulsion, and altitude control to Varda's 120kg capsule for in-space pharmaceutical manufacturing. After the manufacturing phase, the spacecraft will guide Varda's hypersonic re-entry capsule back to Earth. 

Varda has ordered four spacecraft from Rocket Lab, with the second currently in assembly and testing. 

Brad Clevenger, Vice President of Rocket Lab stated: “From technology demonstration missions in low Earth orbit to complex missions to the Moon, and now in-space manufacturing, Rocket Lab spacecraft are enabling innovation on orbit.”

Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with an established track record of mission success. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second most

frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered 163 satellites to orbit.

Shares of Rocket Lab trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol RKLB.