American moon race with China divides NASA and Elon Musk

The acting NASA chief and US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and SpaceX director Elon Musk engaged in a heated exchange on Platform X on Tuesday.

The day before, Duffy had criticized the delays in the development of the Starship spacecraft on Fox News and announced that NASA would invite other companies to apply for the moon landing mission. The project had been awarded to SpaceX in 2021.

Musk responded with a mocking post: “The person in charge of the US space program can't have a double-digit IQ.” Duffy countered: “Great companies should not be afraid of challenges. The moon race has begun.”

A NASA spokeswoman said Duffy wanted to accelerate the moon mission and surpass China. At the same time, she dismissed reports of alleged plans to merge NASA with the Department of Transportation, although Duffy acknowledged that NASA could benefit from cabinet-level status.

(reuters, max)