Ascended?
Keep in mind that this planet of ours is speeding through the space of the universe while it spins on its axis and orbits the Sun. So, there's no telling in what direction that anyone who "ascends" from the surface of this planet is going to go -- it's all pretty much dependant on physics, really. Factor in inertia, momentum, etc etc etc, and there's no telling where a missile that is shot from the earth's surface will end up.
Kind of like Jesus, when he "ascended" into Heaven.
The Bible says he went up, up, up, into the clouds. Well, of course we all know that you can't build a castle in clouds, because it's just vapor. So Jesus had to keep going, higher and higher and higher, up into the statosphere, where the air got so thin that he could no longer breathe and he lost consciousness from lack of oxygen, and plummeted back down to the surface of the earth. When he hit the earth's surface again, he either drowned in the ocean, or broke every bone in his body and became food for bugs and birds and wolves.
Not much of a story, is it?
Anyway, there's no place for anyone to ascend into. So, it's unlikely that anyone would return.
Scam.