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Scoop
a day ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Space Minister Judith Collins Goes To Ground Over Alleged Government Failures Managing NZ's First Space Mission
Space Minister Judith Collins has gone to ground over alleged government failures managing New Zealand's first official, taxpayer-funded satellite mission. Last year, Collins welcomed the launch of MethaneSAT as "a milestone in the development of New Zealand's space sector". However, since the methane-hunting satellite lost communication with its owners, she has refused to answer questions on whether there would be any form of review of New Zealand's involvement in the mission. RNZ has learned a senior astrophysicist wrote to government officials in March warning the public was being given a "materially incomplete" picture. MethaneSAT says it has been "truthful and open" in disclosing the spacecraft's operational issues. New Zealand spent $32 million being part of the mission led by US non-profit the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to find and share hidden sources of methane emissions. The government paid for both Rocket Lab and Auckland University to establish mission control centres, with the goal that Rocket Lab would handle the console initially before handing over to the university so staff and students could get hands-on experience. The satellite became unresponsive in June after just 15 months in orbit, before students could reap the benefits of the investment. In a more detailed statement than previously provided, MethaneSAT says the spacecraft used a new type of thruster technology (which steers the spacecraft and keeps it at the right height) and that, combined with frequent bouts spent in "safe mode" early in the mission, were time-consuming and labour-intensive for the ground operations crew. It says "operational activities" meant the satellite was not able to spend as much time downlinking data as it had hoped for early in the mission. The mission was supposed to last five years. The cause of the spacecraft's demise isn't yet known. Several experts RNZ has spoken to in the space industry lamented the choice to spend tens of millions being involved in a third party project, rather than making the country's first space mission something designed and launched from New Zealand. Political leaders declined to front on calls for a thorough review. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has blamed Labour for overseeing the initial investment and referred follow-up questions to Collins. That's despite the launch and orbit happening under the current government. Collins has repeatedly refused to comment and referred all questions, including questions abut whether the government would hold a review, to the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), which houses the country's Space Agency. The Space Agency, meanwhile, said it had no reason to doubt the judgement of the "seasoned professionals" involved in choosing and building the spacecraft. However, a former employee of Rocket Lab, which operated the satellite's mission control for the first year after launch, has said there was a failure to select the right spacecraft manufacturer and a failure "to focus on the right level of technical rigor [sic] pre launch", and during assembly and testing. Leigh Foster said he and his former team spent many late nights and weekends developing a system to operate and control the satellite but they "never really got to prove to ourselves how impressive it really was" after the satellite was lost in space, before handover to the University of Auckland. Foster's comments were made on LinkedIn. When contacted by RNZ he said he was not able to comment further. Astrophysicist claims reassurances "incomplete" Astrophysicist Richard Easther wrote to government officials in March warning them that they were allowing the public to be given a "materially incomplete" picture about the spacecraft's status. MBIE replied to him saying it was not responsible for statements to the media about MethaneSAT. Easther now says the ministry was "played like a fiddle" over the country's first official space mission. But MethaneSAT says it was truthful and open in disclosing the problems, which included ground crews grappling with operating a new type of, labour-intensive thruster. It maintains the issues were not out of the ordinary. The ministry says it was limited on what it could say in public due to "obligations of confidence and commercial confidentiality". However Easther says MBIE should not have signed up to any deal that prevented it being transparent with taxpayers on the fate of their money. 'No significant issues' Easther's letters to MBIE in March queried statements by MethaneSAT's owners, EDF, to RNZ in October 2024, when RNZ was told there were no significant issues with the satellite. The statement was issued after discussions between MBIE, MethaneSAT's owners (EDF) and Crown research institute NIWA (now Earth Sciences NZ) over how to respond to RNZ's queries to all three organisations, with MethaneSAT/EDF directing the final answers. Less than three months after that statement, MethaneSAT missed a planned deadline for handing the console to the University of Auckland. MBIE did not answer questions on why, and official information requests came back heavily redacted. Then, in March, MethaneSAT announced it was temporarily transferring control to Blue Canyon to address challenges and improve efficiency. MBIE offered no further explanation. That prompted astronomer Michele Bannister of the University of Canterbury to call for future taxpayer funding for space missions to be subject to competition, with clear and transparent milestones. In May, in response to specific questions from RNZ, MethaneSAT acknowledged the spacecraft had been regularly having to be restarted from safe mode using a time-consuming process. It said handover to University of Auckland was on track for no later than June. The spacecraft lost contact with the ground on June 20. Warnings to government Easther told MBIE that the hand-back to Blue Canyon made MethaneSAT's earlier statements to RNZ difficult to trust. He said there was concern in the space community that "there has never been an extended period in which the satellite had "no issues"". He also said there was "deep concern in the space research community that the level of openness about the status of the mission ... falls far short of any reasonable expectations for a mission that has received substantial public money". The letters added that this was a comparatively small satellite and not particularly complex by space mission standards, so the fact that it had taken 18 months to commission was unusual and pointed to likely future problems. Easther said MBIE should not have allowed MethaneSAT to tell RNZ and the public "that the spacecraft was essentially working normally". MBIE responded to him that MethaneSAT was unlike any prior New Zealand science investment and brought obligations of confidentiality and commercial sensitivity "not found in other programmes". On the question of whether MethaneSAT had given accurate statements to RNZ, it said simply that: "MethaneSAT LLC has overall responsible for the status of the mission and related media queries". 'Obligations of confidence' MBIE has responded to criticism of its handling of New Zealand's investment, including the alleged failure to properly disclose problems or "look under the hood" before launch. That last criticism was from Associate Professor in physics Dr Nick Rattenbury, who wrote in a post-mortem of the mission that "New Zealand has more talent and good research ideas than funding to support them" and that "one could reasonably ask to what extent experts were consulted during the decision-making process to invest in the satellite mission, and who was applying due diligence on behalf of New Zealand taxpayers". The deputy head of the Space Agency said MBIE had been actively involved and "well across the challenges the mission has faced". Andrew Johnson said the spacecraft provider "was selected by the Environmental Defense Fund / MethaneSAT LLC before MBIE joined the mission". "The teams at MethaneSAT and Environmental Defense Fund worked with some of the most seasoned professionals in the commercial and government aerospace sectors. We had no reason to doubt their judgement," he said. As for informing taxpayers about the problems, he said the agency had been limited on what it could say due to "obligations of confidence and commercial confidentiality". "We anticipated reflecting on lessons learned from our first active space mission involvement ... and we'll be gathering those lessons in the coming months," said Johnson. MethaneSAT says it was 'truthful and honest' MethaneSAT pointed out that it did acknowledge delays in commissioning the thrusters in October, when RNZ asked about apparent delays to the flow of methane readings. In October it told RNZ "the process as a whole has taken longer than we hoped, but there were no notable or particular complications outside the realm of what would be anticipated". "Again, there is a lot of new technology on this mission, both hardware and software. "For instance, commissioning our thrusters went slower than planned because they are a new model and the vendor was modifying their checkout procedure for us as we were going along. "As of now there are no issues with the satellite or its data collection performance." It is not clear whether the earlier problems were linked to the spacecraft's demise, which is still being investigated. MethaneSAT strongly denied giving RNZ incomplete information. "MethaneSAT has been truthful and open in disclosing the operational issues experienced by the spacecraft early in the MethaneSAT mission," said spokesperson Jon Coifman. "Every spacecraft discovers things which work differently in space than planned, requiring updates to procedures, processes, and software. MethaneSAT was no different," he said. Coifman also shared new details about the safe mode and thruster issues. "MethaneSAT did have a number of safe mode entries early in the mission," he said. "This was due to two factors. "The onboard fault detection and management software was set with very conservative limits at launch. This is standard operating procedure. After time in orbit and experience gained from operations, those limits were relaxed to reduce the number of "false positives" that trigger safe mode. Those updates were implemented over the second half of 2024," he said. The second factor was that a particularly active solar cycle also triggered "safe modes", he said. "When this happens, the onboard fault detection software places the spacecraft into safe mode for the ground operators to assess and reset the required electronics. These ... events continued throughout the life of MethaneSAT as the high solar activity continued. MethaneSAT was not designed with the costly radiation-hardened components found, for example, on military spacecraft," said Coifman. "Regardless of the cause, safe mode requires the ground operations team to perform time-consuming recovery steps," he said. "This too was intentional at the start of the mission (again as it is with every satellite) to ensure a human reviewed each event and confirmed there was nothing more serious or new which required further study. "One objective in handing the satellite to Blue Canyon was to automate much of this recovery to reduce the amount of time required." Coifman also provided new details on challenges faced using the thrusters. "The thrusters on MethaneSAT are relatively new technology. As such, they are more labor [sic] intensive to operate, and have [been] a learning curve for the mission operations team who may be more familiar with other types of thrusters," he said. RNZ has previously revealed there were urgent discussions between MethaneSAT, MBIE and Rocket Lab about updates to staffing levels required to operate the spacecraft, during the time Rocket Lab was on the console. The university also required $3 million more than planned to keep staff employed during delays, taking the cost to New Zealand from $29m to $32m. Coifman added, "The thrusters were operational before and after the handover to Blue Canyon. As with the safe mode recovery, a primary objective for Blue Canyon was to provide more automation in thruster operations to reduce the workload on the mission operators." He said MethaneSAT was fully tested before launch according to best-practices and protocols established by NASA and the commercial spaceflight industry. "There is no reason to believe that additional testing would have addressed the typical operational issues experienced by MethaneSAT on orbit," he said. Luxon blames Labour RNZ asked Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at a media appearance last week whether there would be a review of New Zealand's investment, to avoid a repeat of any mistakes. "To be clear, this was a decision by the previous Labour government not my government. That's an issue now for MBIE to respond to," he said. Asked if he had spoken to Collins, he said: "I haven't but MBIE is the right place for that to be discussed." RNZ followed up with Luxon's office and clarified that criticism from the local space industry covered the failure to monitor and inform the public about the delays, which happened under the current government. Although the decision to invest was made under Labour, the satellite's launch and time in orbit happened under the current coalition. Luxon's office referred questions to Collins, who, for the second time in as many months, refused to comment. Easther said Collins should be asking questions, given she had previously answered to Parliament about delays. In March, Collins answered a series of Parliamentary questions from the Green Party about whether she was aware of any delays in the mission. She referred to delays to the launch date, but did not refer to any issues or delays relating to the satellite's operation once it was in orbit. She said the mission had been returning "high quality data since launch". Collins was also asked why there had been delays handing control to the University of Auckland. She said control had been temporarily transferred to Blue Canyon Technologies to enable the manufacturer to address "challenges which are affecting the satellite's operation" without offering detail. Asked about suggestions of staffing issues, Collins said: "I am aware that MBIE officials are engaging with MethaneSAT partners on New Zealand's support for the mission. Staffing requirements are part of these routine conversations." The extra $3 million payment from MBIE to the university emerged later. Easther said the Minister's answers were incomplete. "When these answers were written it was a full year since MethaneSAT was launched and in that time it published just a few percent of the data we would have expected if it was working as planned," he said. "On top of this, they had just announced the unplanned return of control to Blue Canyon for trouble-shooting - it was clear to everyone watching that there were major delays and hardware issues but you can't learn that from the Minister's answers. "Likewise, nobody has ever doubted that the detector was working - it is the "bread and butter" parts of the spacecraft that failed." Future of university's mission control centre 'under discussion' RNZ asked Mahima Fisher, an Operations Engineer in the mission control team, what would happen to the team and its facilities now that it will not drive MethaneSAT. She said she had been given a chance to learn from commanding and controlling the satellite during preparations for handover, but was "was very disappointed that I could not be a bigger part of the mission". Fisher said the mission control centre would "continue to exist as a physical space to operate future missions. However, the discussions about the future of the operations team are ongoing". She said students had got to carry out mission planning for MethaneSAT, "which was a unique, powerful and inspiring experience" ... and that MethaneSAT did collect data over the last few months. "I hope we take the time to reflect honestly on this mission, whatever that looks like," said Fisher.
Miami Herald
6 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
NASA Cuts: What We Know as Trump Appoints Sean Duffy to Run Agency
President Donald Trump has named Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as the interim administrator of NASA, following his decision to withdraw the nomination of tech billionaire Jared Isaacman. Duffy's appointment comes as the agency faces the prospect of significant budget cuts that could reshape NASA's priorities in the months ahead. NASA's leadership change comes at a pivotal moment for the agency, which is already bracing for potentially severe funding cuts that could delay missions, scale back research, and limit partnerships with the private space sector. It comes on the heels of a proposed White House budget for 2026 that would slash the agency's funding by 25 percent and eliminate more than 5,000 staff — cuts that, if enacted, would reduce the agency's budget and workforce to their smallest levels since the early 1960s. Meanwhile, the appointment of Duffy — who has no direct experience in space policy — raises questions about the future direction of America's space program just as competition with China and other nations intensifies. The move also highlights growing tensions between Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX plays a critical role in U.S. space launches. Trump announced Duffy's appointment in a social media post on Wednesday. "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. He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time. Congratulations, and thank you, Sean," the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. Shortly after the president's post, Duffy wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Honored to accept this mission. Time to take over space. Let's launch." Trump pulled the nomination of Isaacman - a private astronaut with close ties to Musk - on May 31, just days before the Senate had been set to vote on his nomination, and shortly after Musk's department from the government was announced. Isaacman had made previous donations to Democrats; Trump said his decision came after a "thorough review of prior associations" as well as growing concern over "corporate entanglements." The president added that he would replace Isaacman with someone who was "[m]ission aligned." The president defended his decision again over the weekend, saying it would have been "inappropriate" for someone so closely connected to Musk — and the private space industry — to oversee an agency that is central to Musk's business empire. Musk, once a key Trump ally and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, left the administration amid a falling-out with the president over parts of Trump's agenda. Tensions between Duffy and Musk reportedly flared during a March cabinet meeting over alleged efforts to fire air traffic controllers as part of Musk's aggressive cost-cutting strategy. Duffy will now take charge of the $25 billion NASA budget at a moment when the agency is bracing for deep cuts — a belt-tightening push that echoes some of the controversial cost-cutting measures Musk championed before his departure. At least 2,145 senior-ranking NASA employees are set to depart as part of a sweeping push to shrink the agency's workforce — a move that could seriously disrupt White House space policy and drain NASA of decades of institutional expertise, experts suggest. According to documents obtained by Politico, the employees leaving include those in GS-13 to GS-15 positions — senior civil service grades typically reserved for staff with specialized skills or key management roles. The departures are heavily concentrated at the top, with 875 GS-15 employees expected to exit. In total, the 2,145 senior staff make up the bulk of the 2,694 civil servants who have agreed to leave NASA through early retirements, buyouts, or deferred resignation offers — part of a wider administration effort to pare down the federal workforce. Many of these departing employees are directly involved in NASA's core mission areas like science, human spaceflight, and deep space exploration. Of the total, 1,818 work on mission-related projects, while the rest handle critical support roles such as IT, facilities, or financial management. The cuts have sparked backlash online. Democrat Senator Mark Kelly warned that forcing out more than 2,000 senior NASA staff could cripple America's ability to compete with China in space, comparing it to what might have happened if NASA had lost key leaders before the original moon landing. "What would've happened if 2,000+ senior NASA leaders were pushed out before the moon landing? We would've lost the space race to the Soviets. And now we risk losing the next space race to China," he wrote on X. Casey Dreier of The Planetary Society echoed that concern, saying the cuts stripped the agency of critical management and technical expertise and questioning what goal the administration hoped to achieve. "You're losing the managerial and core technical expertise of the agency. What's the strategy and what do we hope to achieve here?" Dreier told Politico. The losses are spread across all ten of NASA's regional centers, with Maryland's Goddard Space Flight Center being the hardest hit as it is set to cut 607 employees. Johnson Space Center in Texas will lose 366 staff, Kennedy Space Center in Florida will lose 311 and NASA headquarters in Washington will lose 307. Other key hubs, including Langley, Marshall, and Glenn Research Center, will also see steep reductions. While some cuts align with the administration's goals — such as significant staff reductions at Goddard, a hub for climate and earth science missions the White House aims to scale back — analysts suggest other losses could undercut major priority areas, including plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2027 and eventually to Mars. So far, only about half the total workforce reductions the White House wants have been achieved, raising the possibility of forced layoffs if more employees don't opt in to the voluntary departure program before it closes on July 25. Ultimately, the proposed cuts to NASA's staff and budget still need congressional approval — and lawmakers could push back. In March, the Senate Commerce Committee signaled its intent to protect the agency's workforce in its own budget blueprint, setting the stage for a potential clash over the future of America's space program. NASA told Politico it remains committed to its core missions and is working with the White House to keep America at the forefront of space exploration, including plans for the Moon and Mars, despite the more constrained budget. "NASA remains committed to our mission as we work within a more prioritized budget," said NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens. "We are working closely with the Administration to ensure that America continues to lead the way in space exploration, advancing progress on key goals, including the Moon and Mars." On May 2, the Trump administration released its 2026 "skinny budget" request, outlining its funding plans for the next fiscal year — including a proposal to slash NASA's science budget by 47 percent to $3.9 billion. According to new documents, the cuts would cancel several major missions and research efforts. The Mars Sample Return project, which aims to bring back material collected by the Perseverance rover, would be scrapped entirely. The New Horizons mission — which famously flew by Pluto in 2015 and is now studying the outer solar system — would also be cancelled, along with Juno, the probe that has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016. Projects involving long-running Mars orbiters like Mars Odyssey and MAVEN would be terminated, and NASA's planned collaboration on the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover, set to launch in 2028 to search for signs of life, would be shelved. "In total, this budget aims to cancel 41 science projects — fully a third of NASA's science portfolio," The Planetary Society said in a statement about the new budget documents. "These are unique projects that would require billions of new spending to replace." Last week, seven former heads of NASA's Science Mission Directorate issued a joint letter to Congress condemning the White House's proposed 47 percent cuts. They urged the House appropriations committee "to preserve US leadership in space exploration and reject the unprecedented cuts to space science concocted by the White House's Budget Director, Russ Vought." "The economics of these proposed cuts ignore a fundamental truth: investments in NASA science have been and are a powerful driver of the U.S. economy and technological leadership," the letter read. The former officials pointed to past breakthroughs, writing: "In our former roles leading NASA's space science enterprise, we consistently saw skilled teams innovate in the face of seemingly impossible goals, including landing a car-sized rover on Mars with pinpoint precision, build a massive telescope that can unfold in the vacuum of space to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos, design and operate a spacecraft hardy enough to survive temperatures of many thousands of degrees at the Sun, inspiring young and old alike worldwide by the stunning images from the Hubble Space Telescope, and pioneering the use of small satellites for science." They also warned the cuts could be to Beijing's advantage. "Global space competition extends far past Moon and Mars exploration," they wrote. "The Chinese space science program is aggressive, ambitious, and well-funded. It is proposing missions to return samples from Mars, explore Neptune, monitor climate change for the benefit of the Chinese industry and population, and peer into the universe – all activities that the FY 2026 NASA budget proposal indicates the US will abandon." The administration is yet to announce its next choice for a permanent NASA administrator, but Duffy will replace Janet Petro, a veteran NASA executive, who was appointed acting head of the agency by the Trump administration in January. Duffy's move to NASA is not the only example of Cabinet reshuffling under Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for example, currently holds two extra roles - acting national security adviser and interim national archivist. Related Articles Trump's Transportation Secretary Gets Additional Job TitleSatellite Image Shows 'Optical Phenomenon' Captured by NASA Over Peru LakeISS Astronauts Look Out Over the US-Can't Believe What They SeeNASA Detects Visitor From Outside Solar System 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
USA Today
6 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Who is Sean Duffy? What to know about Trump's pick for interim head of NASA
News of Duffy's appointment comes during a turbulent period in NASA's history, as the U.S. space agency faces potentially steep budget cuts and has grappled with workforce reductions Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is about to perform double duty after President Donald Trump named him to lead NASA on an interim basis. News of Duffy's appointment comes during a turbulent period in NASA's history, as the U.S. space agency faces potentially steep budget cuts and has grappled with workforce reductions. What's more, NASA has found itself without a full-time administrator since Bill Nelson stepped down on Jan. 20, the day of Trump's inauguration. Trump, though, gave Duffy a glowing vote of confidence when announcing his new appointment. 'He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time,' Trump said in a Truth Social post Wednesday, July 9. NASA funding: Dozens of NASA space missions could be axed under Trump's budget Here's everything to know about Duffy, the former Wisconsin Republican Congressman and reality TV star who will lead the world's largest space agency. Trump picks transportation secretary Sean Duffy for NASA acting administrator Duffy will serve as the interim administrator of NASA as the Trump administration continues to search for a candidate to formally take over the post for the rest of the president's term. '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 said in a post on Truth Social. "Congratulations, and thank you, Sean." In his own post on X shortly after the president's announcement, Duffy said he is 'honored to accept this mission. Time to take over space. Let's launch. Who is Sean Duffy? What to know about NASA's new head Duffy, 53, was confirmed Jan. 28 by the Senate as U.S. transportation secretary. His tenure was immediately marked by tragedy after a fatal aviation crash near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that killed 67 people At his confirmation hearing on Jan. 15, Duffy said he would prioritize adding more air traffic controllers to improve aviation safety while promising to work with Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates Boeing, to restore international confidence in the plane manufacturer after fatal crashes overseas. Prior to serving in the Trump Administration, Duffy represented Wisconsin in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019. But long before his political career, Duffy was a reality television star. He began his television career on MTV's "The Real World: Boston" during its sixth season and even met his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, who hosts 'Fox & Friends Weekend," while filming for an MTV show. Duffy to replace Janet Petro Since Trump's inauguration, NASA has been led by Acting Administrator Janet Petro. A veteran NASA executive, Petro will step down from her role to make way for Duffy, the New York Times reported. Why did Trump drop Jared Isaacman as NASA nominee? Billionaire Jared Isaacman, who has been to space twice under missions he bankrolled with SpaceX, had been Trump's first pick to lead NASA. Isaacman's nomination was well-received by most of the space community and members of Congress. But at a critical time when the U.S. space agency is preparing to return humans to the moon and send the first astronauts to Mars, Trump suddenly pulled Isaacman's bid in late-May. The decision came after Isaacman had cleared the Senate Commerce Committee in April and appeared on track for a full Senate vote. Trump discussed Isaacman's nomination July 6 in a long social media post bashing his former ally and advisor Elon Musk, saying he thought it would have been 'inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon … run NASA.' Trump further said of Isaacman that he "was surprised to learn that he was a blue-blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before." Isaacman pushed back against Trump's claims in a post Monday, July 7 on X, describing himself as an apolitical "right-leaning moderate." Could more than 2,000 senior employees quit at NASA? Duffy is set to take over an agency that has undergone workforce reductions and is preparing for a potential massive looming budget cut. Trump's proposed budget for the next fiscal year would slash NASA funding by nearly 25% – from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion – mostly by eliminating a significant portion of the agency's science portfolio. And on July 10, news broke that around 2,145 senior-ranking employees at NASA are set to leave under a push to shed staff, Politico reported, citing documents obtained by the news outlet. Most employees leaving are in senior-level government positions, the report said, adding that the agency has offered staff early retirement, buyouts and deferred resignations. Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY; Reuters Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump puts another nail in Musk friendship with his NASA appointee
President Donald Trump has named Transport Secretary Sean Duffy as the new interim head of NASA in another blow to his estranged former benefactor and ally, Elon Musk. 'I am pleased to announce that I am directing our GREAT Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, to be Interim Administrator of NASA,' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. '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. 'He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time. Congratulations, and thank you, Sean!' Transport Secretary Sean Duffy speaks outside of the White House in March (AP) Duffy responded on X, Musk's own social media platform, by saying: 'Honored to accept this mission. Time to take over space. Let's launch.' He will succeed Janet Petro, who has held the role since January and eradicated DEI policies from NASA in accordance with the president's executive order to that effect. His appointment will come as a double setback for Musk, who, during his time in the White House, had lobbied for his friend Jared Isaacman to be given the job. Trump duly nominated Isaacman and went through the hearing process with the Senate's Commerce Committee in May, only for the honor to be abruptly withdrawn days before a full Senate vote on his candidacy had been due to take place. The president cited 'a thorough review of prior associations,' a seeming reference to the entrepreneur's history of support for liberal causes. Isaacman himself told the All-In podcast several weeks later that he believed his nomination being rescinded was because of his friendship with Musk, by then out of favor, and said: 'There were some people who had some axes to grind, and I was a good, visible target.' His snubbing is thought to be one of the reasons behind the subsequent rapid deterioration of the relationship between Trump and Musk, which came to a head on social media over the president's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' and resulted in a series of deeply personal insults. Jared Isaacman, whose nomination to lead NASA was abruptly rescinded earlier this year (Reuters) The SpaceX boss is also unlikely to be happy to see the former reality TV star placed in charge of NASA because the two men reportedly fell out behind the scenes over cuts to the Department of Transport recommended by Musk's DOGE operatives. 'I have multiple plane crashes to deal with now, and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers?' Duffy reportedly yelled at Musk in March. The secretary went on to attack DOGE in an April press conference at which he said: 'Do I want to make our government more efficient? Do I want to be able to do a little more with a little less, because then I put more money into the great work that we do? Yeah, I want to do that. But you can't do that without good people, right?' He continued: 'And so, though I want us to be more efficient, I also look, and as I think of DOGE cutting things, I don't know about that elsewhere, but we actually build things here, right? You can't cut your way to a new road, you can't cut your way to a new bridge, you can't cut your way into a new air traffic control system. So we're actually going to build in this department.' Privately, Duffy might be rather less than pleased at being asked to lead NASA, given that he is already busy tackling a substantial workload that covers everything from the crisis at Newark Airport to revising speed regulations for long-haul truckers, not to mention caring for nine children at home. The situation recalls that of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was jokingly dubbed 'Secretary of Everything' in May after being named acting national security adviser in addition to running the State Department, serving as acting administrator for what remains of the U.S. Agency for International Development and acting archivist for the National Archives and Records Administration.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trump announces new NASA boss in snub to Elon Musk
'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,' the president wrote on his Truth Social page Wednesday night. 'He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short amount of time. Congratulations, and thank you, Sean!' Duffy graciously accepted the nomination, writing on X that he is 'honored to accept this mission. 'Time to take over space. Let's launch,' he posted. The announcement came just weeks after Trump suddenly withdrew the nomination of Musk-backed entrepreneur and billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman, citing his 'prior associations.' The decision angered Musk, whose SpaceX business does contract work for the space agency. In explaining his decision to renege on Isaacman's nomination, the president claimed that the billionaire was recommended to him by Musk 'and while I thought his friend was very good, I was surprised to learn that he was a blue blooded Democrat who had never contributed to a Republican before.' Federal Election Commission filings obtained by CBS News show Isaacman (pictured) has donated to Democratic congressional candidates and groups - but has also given some money to the GOP. The New York Times has also revealed that Trump reportedly knew about Isaacman's donations from the moment he chose to nominate him to run NASA - fueling speculation that Isaacman's ouster was more about the president's growing feud with Musk. Trump has even since admitted that he '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.' Isaacman has been a close collaborator with Musk ever since buying his first chartered flight on Musk's SpaceX company in 2021. He was selected to head NASA during the height of Trump's bromance with Musk, and when Trump selected Isaacman at his nominee, the president touted the billionaire as 'an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot and astronaut.' He was then approved by a Senate committee and was headed to a confirmation vote when Trump suddenly pulled his nomination amid Musk's ouster from the White House. Isaacman then took to X on Monday to 'clarify' some of the things that Trump has said about him, while noting that the 'president is entitled to assemble the leadership team he believes will best serve his administration.' The billionaire rocketman described himself in the lengthy post as 'relatively apolitical' and a 'right-leaning moderate,' and claimed he disclosed his 'political donations across both parties (though 10x more to Republicans)' before his nomination. Isaacman went on to assert that he only knows Elon 'professionally' and does not own any equity in SpaceX, though he has a 'firsthand appreciation for what he and his companies have accomplished' after flying to space twice on SpaceX rockets. 'Like all nominees, I signed an ethics letter and would have honored it,' he wrote. He added that his desire to lead NASA 'was never about political ambition, personal gain or enriching others. 'I love my country and I care deeply about America's competitiveness and leadership in space.' Following Trump's appointment of Duffy on Wednesday, Isaacman called the appointment a 'great move' and wished the transportation secretary well. 'NASA needs political leadership from someone the President trusts and has confidence in,' he wrote on X.
