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

Late Tuesday afternoon, Elon Musk put out a message on X saying that President Donald Trump had asked him to return the two Boeing Starliner astronauts who have been on the space station since June as soon as possible.

Liftoff is scheduled for 8:34 p.m. ET tonight (Jan. 29).

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The vice president leading Boeing's Starliner spacecraft unit, Mark Nappi, has left his role in the program and been replaced by the company's International Space Station program manager, John Mulholland,

SpaceX and Vast Space are looking for research ideas to fly aboard Vast's new Haven-1 space station launching later this year.

Starliner co-pilot Sunita Williams is now the world's most experienced female spacewalker, moving up to No. 4 overall.

IAF group captain Shubhanshu Shukla is designated as pilot of the Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station (ISS).

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.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Elon Musk's company SpaceX will "soon" begin a mission to repatriate two American astronauts who have been stranded for months on the International Space Station.

Elon Musk says Donald Trump has asked SpaceX to rescue two astronauts who have been in space for more than seven months — even though NASA has said there's a plan in place.