Duffy pushes back against testimony that NASA is falling behind China in lunar exploration

WASHINGTON — NASA’s acting administrator said he was “angry” after a predecessor told Congress the agency was behind China in sending astronauts to the moon.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has also served as NASA’s acting administrator for nearly two months, used an internal NASA town hall Sept. 4 to emphasize the agency’s exploration program amid criticism that it can’t return astronauts to the moon before China lands humans there.

In the video meeting, a recording of which was obtained by SpaceNews, Duffy cited a Senate Commerce Committee hearing the day before on NASA’s exploration program. “There’s questions yesterday, actually, in a Senate hearing,” he said, “as we had testimony that said NASA will not beat China to the moon.”

That was an apparent reference to testimony by Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator in the first Trump administration, who said it was “highly unlikely that we will land on the moon before China,” citing the complexity of the Artemis architecture.

“That was shade thrown on all of NASA,” Duffy said, without mentioning Bridenstine by name. “I was angry about it.”

Duffy repeated past comments, primarily in television interviews, that NASA would return astronauts to the moon before China landed its first crew.

“I’ll be damned if that is the story that we write,” he said. “We are going to beat the Chinese to the moon. We are going to make sure that we do this safely. We’re going to do it fast. We’re going to do it right.”

Joining Duffy at the meeting was Amit Kshatriya, the former head of the Moon to Mars Program Office, whom Duffy named associate administrator, the top civil service position at the agency, Sept. 3. He vowed to “push back” on comments like Bridenstine’s testimony.

“We’re not going to take the idea that we’re not going to win, and you’ll see that in our will and in our actions as we go forward,” Kshatriya said, urging the workforce to find ways to speed up Artemis.

“The first thing I’d say is everything, every meeting, every discussion you have, every day you wake up, ask yourself, ‘Is what I’m doing helping us get back to the moon?’” he said. “If it’s not, stop doing it. You’ll have my full support to stop doing it.”

Neither Duffy nor Kshatriya addressed Bridenstine’s central concern. His Senate testimony focused on SpaceX’s Starship, the planned lunar lander for Artemis 3. Testing setbacks earlier this year raised doubts the vehicle will be ready to carry astronauts to the surface in 2027 as planned.

The town hall offered a rare chance for extended remarks from Duffy about NASA and his role. Since being named acting administrator July 9, he has limited public appearances to short television interviews, mainly on Fox News. He has not taken part in agency press conferences, and NASA’s press secretary did not respond to a request last month to schedule an interview with him.

Most of his comments centered on exploration, with little discussion of NASA’s work in science, space technology, aeronautics or other areas. Duffy played down concerns about the administration’s budget proposal, which sought to cut NASA funding by nearly 25% with steeper reductions in science and space technology.

“The president, though we have a reduced budget, he gave us more money for space exploration. That’s what we’re going to do,” he said, adding that the agency would still do “congressionally mandated science” as well. “At this point, I think we have enough money to accomplish our mission.”

He acknowledged, though, that NASA needs to cut the cost of exploration, citing estimates that each Artemis mission will cost $4 billion. “I would just say that it’s important that we bring the cost down,” he said, but offered no specifics. “At $4 billion a launch, it becomes very challenging to have a moon program. We have to do things more cost-effectively.”

Duffy said he would work with Kshatriya and others on ways to reduce costs for future Artemis missions but admitted he did not know how long he would serve as acting administrator. The White House has yet to nominate a permanent leader after abruptly withdrawing Jared Isaacman’s nomination more than three months ago.

“I’m serving here at the pleasure of the president. I’m going to be here for the foreseeable future,” he said. “I would just tell you that I could be here again for one day, for one month. I could be here for one year.”