Varda Recovers W-8 Capsule While Running Three Orbital Missions
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El Segundo – November 05, 2026 -- Varda Space Industries recovered its W-8 capsule at the Koonibba Test Range at 5:58am Pacific after 35 days in orbit. At the time, the company was operating three vehicles on orbit at once, which Varda describes as a first for the orbital reentry industry.
Varda's El Segundo team runs three missions at once
W-8 launched on Oct. 1, 2026, together with W-9, the first time two commercial reentry vehicles were launched together. W-7 followed on Oct. 20. Varda's Mission Operations team in El Segundo managed all three missions at the same time, bringing one capsule home and keeping the other two on orbit.
Steve Layne, Chief Revenue Officer, described the effort as what high-cadence operations look like in practice.