Lawmakers are growing concerned that China may beat the United States in the race back to the Moon — and acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy is willing to throw the agency’s brave astronauts under the bus to make sure that doesn’t happen.
As NBC News reports, Duffy — who, in a puzzling double duty, also serves as the secretary of transportation — told employees during a town hall last week that “sometimes we can let safety be the enemy of making progress.”
“We have to be able to take some leaps,” he said. “We have to be able to jump forward in our innovation and drive this mission, and there’s always a balance to that, but we can’t side on the side of doing nothing because we’re afraid of any risk.”
The baffling remarks — which made it look like Duffy is trying to have it both ways, since he also said NASA “should be safety-driven” — highlight the inner turmoil at the space agency as it lays the groundwork for its upcoming crewed Artemis missions to the Moon.
Major advancements in China’s efforts to land its first astronauts on the lunar surface have raised alarm bells among lawmakers, with former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine warning that “unless something changes, it is highly unlikely the United States will beat China’s projected timeline” during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last week.
NASA’s operations were thrown into chaos earlier this year when president Donald Trump took over. His administration has yet to announce a new permanent leader, for the agency despite being just over eight months into Trump’s second term.
The White House’s proposed 2026 budget, if approved by lawmakers, could deal a devastating blow to NASA’s science directorate, slashing its budget in half. Thousands of senior staffers were ready to walk following major cuts earlier this year. Thousands more accepted the agency’s deferred resignation program, a major culling of NASA’s workforce.
Experts have overwhelmingly come to the consensus that such cuts could allow other world powers, most notably China, to make major advancements in space, including getting a first mover advantage on the lunar surface.
That’s despite Duffy explicitly indicating that NASA is prioritizing space exploration at the cost of Earth sciences and global warming.
China has completed several major milestones in its efforts to land its first astronauts on the Moon, including a successful test of its “Lanyue” lunar lander, a static fire of its Long March 10 Moon rocket, and a pad-abort test for its next-gen astronaut capsule.
Meanwhile, NASA’s Artemis program has turned into a political football, with its uber-expensive and delayed Space Launch System and Orion vehicles becoming major points of contention. SpaceX’s Human Landing System configuration of its Starship spacecraft has also encountered major headwinds, and has yet to launch into space and land in one piece.
During last week’s town hall, Duffy called out those who threw “shade” on “all of NASA” during last week’s Senate hearing.
“I’ll be damned if that is the story that we write,” he told employees. “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.”
More on the Moon race: Lawmakers Panic As They Realize China May Beat the US to the Moon