Donald Trump has assigned Transport Secretary Sean Duffy a second job as interim caretaker of NASA after the president dumped his original choice to lead the space agency.
Duffy has been locked in a war of words this year with Trump’s former space buddy, Elon Musk. The president just days ago claimed in a Truth Social post that Musk had suggested a close friend for the role, but added he refused because the person was a “blue-blooded Democrat.”
Trump confirmed the appointment of Duffy as Interim Administrator in an announcement on Truth Social on Wednesday, stating, “Sean is doing a TREMENDOUS job in handling our Country’s Transportation Affairs, including creating a state-of-the-art Air Traffic Control systems, while at the same time rebuilding our roads and bridges, making them efficient, and beautiful, again.”
Trump added, Duffy will be a “fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time.”
Duffy posted on X, “Honored to accept this mission. Time to take over space. Let’s launch.”
He will not be the only member of the Trump administration currently juggling double duties, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio also serving multiple roles including interim national security adviser and national archivist.
The announcement comes as Politico reports NASA will lose at least 2,145 senior-ranking employees as part of a push to cut costs and shed staff. The mass exit would see decades of experience leave the space agency.
A White House budget for 2026 proposes to slash NASA funding by 25 percent. That would see NASA operate with the smallest budget and staff since the early 1960s.
Duffy clashed with Elon Musk in March, when the Transport Secretary claimed the DOGE team the Tesla CEO was then running was, “was trying to lay off air traffic controllers,” in the wake of several plane crashes.
“I have multiple plane crashes to deal with now, and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers?” Duffy reportedly remarked. Musk said the claims were a “lie” and asked Duffy to “Give me their names. Tell me their names.”
The two also argued about Musk’s satellite system Starlink in March, after it was suggested it could solve air traffic controller issues.
Duffy said Musk’s technology was not the answer, but could be “part of the solution.” Musk clapped back on X, saying “The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk,” and that he provided Starlink terminals to FAA at no charge.
In his new role, Duffy will replace Janet Petro, the first woman to run NASA, who cut DEI programs at the space agency after taking over the reigns in January.
In May, Trump withdrew his nomination of tech billionaire and Shift4 founder Jared Isaacman to run NASA. Isaacman is a friend of Elon Musk, who has had a spectacular falling out with Trump this year.
At the time, White House spokesperson Liz Huston said, “It’s essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda.”
Earlier this week in a Truth Social rant about Musk, Trump gave more background surrounding his decision to pull a “close friend” of Musk’s from the race.
He said he the friend was “very good” but was surprised to learn “he was a blue-blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before.”
Trump added, “I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life. My Number One charge is to protect the American Public!”
Duffy’s new role follows a busy few months as the new Transportation Secretary, who has been haunted by ongoing chaos in U.S. air travel.
In May, he blamed repeated air traffic control outages at Newark Liberty Airport on old technology and claimed, “Congress and the country haven’t paid attention to it.” At the peak of the meltdown, Duffy posted on Instagram about having a home-cooked taco dinner with his wife, whose flight out of Newark he admitted switching to LaGuardia.
Duffy has also tried to justify a nationwide staffing crisis at the Federal Aviation Agency. In February, he claimed none of the hundreds of the FAA stuff losing their jobs were air traffic controllers or “critical safety personnel.”
He added, “I will not rest until I return the Department of Transportation and its incredible employees to its mission of efficiency and safety.”
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