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.

"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," Cheryl Warner, NASA's news chief at the agency's headquarters, said in a statement to reporters.

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.

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.

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.

Posts by President Trump and Elon Musk roiled the space community, raising the prospect of an earlier-than-planned return for the Starliner crew.

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social Tuesday evening, vowing vow to bring the NASA pilots home after being stranded in space since the summer.

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.

SpaceX on Wednesday launched the Spanish communications satellite Hisdesat SpainSat NG I atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.