SpaceX on Wednesday night launched a Spanish communications satellite from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and retired the first-stage booster rather than landing on a drone.

While Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore’s situation is unusual, their return trip will be pretty routine, as they were already slated to fly home on a SpaceX capsule as part of a scheduled crew rotation.

Following the explosive failure of the Starship megarocket’s January 16 test flight, residents of the British territory were left with debris-strewn roads and beaches.

The Starlink satellite reentry sparked at least 62 fireball reports to the American Meteor Society, which shared images and photos of the event by witnesses. In one video, captured by observer John Aubert of Crystal Lake, Illinois, the fireball streaks over the roof of a home and trees.

A spokesperson with NASA, which oversees SpaceX’s flights to the ISS, said “NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions.”

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.”

Starbase is an industrial installation built by SpaceX to fabricate and test a number of the company’s rocket types. The area around it is a unique and delicate ecosystem that includes estuaries and coastal grasslands, mud flats and more, where falcons, hawks, ravens, gulls and songbirds live.

Despite the statement from President Trump, NASA had already scheduled the astronauts' return for late March or April.

Flight 7 Recap SpaceX launched Starship Flight 7 on Jan 16 in another afternoon launch. The initial ascent with Booster 14 was perfect, with no engine outs and the hot staging maneuver completed. While Ship 33 began its ascent burn, Booster 14 completed its boost back burn minus a single engine and received the “Go for Booster Return” call out.

ORLANDO, Fla. — A California-based startup led by former SpaceX executives announced Jan. 29 it has raised $100 million to accelerate development of lower-cost hypersonic missiles, marking Silicon Valley’s latest push into the defense sector traditionally dominated by established contractors.

Apple is finally offering support for Starlink satellite service on iPhones, but only on T-Mobile, and access is still limited.