The time is 4 a.m. The night watchman at the commercial center in Herzliya, which is half abandoned even in the middle of the day, is surprised to see the unusual gathering: a large group of children and their parents are excitedly lining up to enter the building. The location may be drab, opposite a beauty parlor, and a floor above a spy products shop, but what is taking place between the walls of the building is nothing short of revolutionary. It is here that the scientists of SpacePharma developed the new global technological frontline in medical experimentation—an innocent-looking box that in fact functions as an autonomous laboratory launched via satellite to carry out experiments in outer space.

The ambitious Israeli startup has already launched four such boxes into space and on one night in late June, it appeared that it could finally carry out the fifth launch, following two delays in the past year and a failed launch a week earlier. The employees arrived with their families to watch the launch that was supposed to take place 10,000 kilometers away at the European Space Agency’s launch site in French Guiana, in South America.

Cookies and other assorted refreshments were brought out of the kitchen while the children (who should have been waking up to go to school in a few hours) inflated blue and white balloons in one of the labs. Before long, the open space resembled a political party headquarters on election night. At the same time in the Sheba Medical Center, which is leading one of the experiments, another event is being held in parallel. The guest of honor is the new Minister of Science Yizhar Shai.

But then, while the workers were still adjusting the monitors to view the live launch and the minister was starting on his speech, clouds started to cover the skies above the exotic beach town of Kourou, the Monsoon winds rising from the Atlantic Ocean disrupting the celebration. The launch was once again postponed.

Keep reading at calcalistech.com.

The Technion collaborated with SpacePharma on this project with two experiments.