It sounds like they launched while the re-entry license was still pending, I'm seeing articles from months ago about that. It seems they are applying under a new licensing scheme, so maybe that's why they are hitting a few kinks. Here's a quote from an Ars article;
"The FAA ensures commercial launch and re-entry operations don’t endanger the public. The FAA has licensed 53 commercial launches so far in 2023 for SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Orbit, Relativity Space, and ABL Space Systems. But it has only licensed five re-entries this year, all for SpaceX’s Dragon crew and cargo missions returning from the International Space Station.
Once its license is approved, Varda Space will become just the third company to receive a commercial FAA re-entry license and the first under streamlined commercial spaceflight regulations known as Part 450.
“We would be the first to operate within this new regulatory regime (for a re-entry),” Asparouhov said.
In-space manufacturing startup aces pharma experiment in orbit