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.

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.

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.

No one was hurt by the object, believed to be part of a launch rocket. Experts say the frequency of such incidents is increasing as the amount of debris in orbit around the Earth grows dramatically.

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