Elon Musk has attacked NASA’s administrator – and claimed he is not good sufficient to carry the highest job.
The billionaire’s criticism of Sean Duffy got here after the house company stated it was open to utilizing moon landers that weren’t manufactured by his firm SpaceX.
On X, Musk accused Mr Duffy of “attempting to kill NASA”, and wrote: “The particular person answerable for America’s house program cannot have a 2 digit IQ.”
Elevate-off for SpaceX’s Starship!
Whereas NASA has been planning to make use of SpaceX’s Starship rocket system to land on the lunar floor, proposals will now be accepted from rivals.
The company desires to return astronauts to the moon inside Donald Trump’s second time period and achieve this earlier than China will get there.
Mr Duffy had informed CNBC: “We’re not going to attend for one firm. We’ll push this ahead and win the second house race in opposition to the Chinese language.”
Whereas SpaceX has a $2.9bn (£2.2bn) contract for the Artemis III mission, it has fallen delayed – with Starship struggling a sequence of explosive failures this 12 months.
June: Empty SpaceX craft explodes
Nonetheless, Musk has defended the corporate’s progress, writing: “SpaceX is shifting like lightning in comparison with the remainder of the house trade.
“Furthermore, Starship will find yourself doing the entire moon mission. Mark my phrases.”
In response, Mr Duffy stated: “Love the eagerness. The race to the Moon is ON. Nice corporations should not be afraid of a problem. When our innovators compete with one another, America wins!”
Mr Duffy is at the moment the appearing administrator of NASA, however reviews counsel that he desires to maintain the function.
Musk has beforehand thrown his help behind a billionaire referred to as Jared Isaacman for the highest job, who has beforehand flown on two personal SpaceX missions into orbit.
