The founder of SpaceX said President Trump had asked his company to return two astronauts aboard the space station to Earth “as soon as possible.” NASA said it would do that “as soon as practical.”

The president’s Inaugural Address linked landing on the Red Planet with Manifest Destiny, but left many of the specifics unclear.

The agency launched an investigation into the “space vehicle mishap” on Thursday night that forced commercial flights to divert and caused debris to rain toward Caribbean islands.

While Elon Musk’s spaceflight company repeated a spectacular catch of its powerful booster stage, the upper stage experienced a catastrophic malfunction.

The successful flight to orbit of the Amazon founder’s powerful rocket suggests it could grow into a credible competitor with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The organization said that more than 90 important sites on the moon could risk destruction if space tourism is left unregulated.

If New Glenn lifts off on Monday as planned, the Amazon founder’s rocket company will be on track to give Elon Musk’s SpaceX some genuine competition.

The company, owned by the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, also received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch the vehicle to orbit.

Federal agencies have opened at least three reviews into whether the company and its leader complied with disclosure protocols intended to protect state secrets, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Mr. Isaacman’s company Shift4 Payments made him a billionaire, and he has financed two trips to orbit on SpaceX vehicles, including a daring spacewalk in September.

© Polaris Program/SpaceX, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images