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ToplineElon Musk took aim at Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a series of social media posts Tuesday, accusing the acting NASA administrator of having a “2 Digit IQ” and claiming he was “trying to kill” NASA—after Duffy suggested NASA might drop Musk’s SpaceX as a contractor for an upcoming manned moon mission.

WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 13: Elon Musk listens as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump addresses a House Republicans Conference meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on November 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. As is tradition with incoming presidents, Trump is traveling to Washington, DC to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House as well as meet with Republican congressmen on Capitol Hill. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)Getty ImagesKey FactsMusk suggested through multiple social media posts Tuesday on X that Duffy was unfit to lead NASA and others would be more suited for the role—as a response to a report Duffy was looking to take long-term charge of the space agency.

Duffy, who is serving as acting NASA chief, has expressed his desire to take charge of the agency long-term, and has pushed to put NASA under his direction at the Department of Transportation, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

One of Musk’s tweets accused Duffy of “trying to kill” NASA, while another showed support for a tweet that said the DOT director “had got to go.”

Musk’s comments come one day after Duffy said he was looking to shake up a contract awarded to SpaceX because the company was behind schedule on the Artemis III space project.

The SpaceX CEO responded to Duffy’s earlier comments in a post on X, saying SpaceX was moving quickly compared to the rest of the space industry.

Key Background

The battle to see who will lead NASA has intensified since President Donald Trump pulled his nomination of Musk-backed Jared Isaacman in May after initially endorsing the billionaire as the next NASA administrator. Isaacman started his career founding payment processing firm Shift4 Payments and Draken International, a private defense company, before pivoting to space pilotry, travelling to space twice in missions arranged by his private spaceflight Polaris Program he established with SpaceX. The president still has not announced a replacement, temporarily placing the space agency under the purview of Duffy in July.

Contra

The WSJ reported that Duffy and his staff interviewed Isaacman earlier this week in a move to potentially renominate the billionaire to lead NASA.

Further Reading

Duffy Suggests NASA Could Ditch Musk’s SpaceX For Moon Landing: ‘Way Behind Schedule’Who Is Jared Isaacman? What To Know About The Billionaire Trump Picked To Lead NASA.Jared Isaacman Suggests He Lost Trump’s NASA Nomination Over Musk Ties