in-space-manufacturing
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Stef Crum
Stef Crum is the CEO and co-founder of Reditus Space, an Atlanta aerospace startup building reusable spacecraft that return payloads from orbit so companies can manufacture in microgravity. A Georgia Tech PhD in space systems engineering who worked on orbital operations and reentry with NASA and the Space Force, Crum started Reditus with classmate Will Sherman after Georgia Tech's Create-X program, went through Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch, raised a $7.1 million seed round, and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Transportation and Aerospace list in 2026. His pitch is blunt: the innovation isn't getting to orbit, it's coming back.
Will Bruey
Will Bruey is the co-founder and CEO of Varda Space Industries, a company building autonomous capsules that manufacture pharmaceuticals in orbit and then fly them back to Earth. A former SpaceX avionics engineer who flew Dragon on eight missions to the International Space Station, Bruey now runs the first company to manufacture a drug in space and successfully return it. His pitch is deliberately unglamorous: make space manufacturing routine enough to be boring, then build the supply chain that follows.