Musk, NASA chief Duffy jostle over space agency leadership

Acting NASA chief Sean Duffy and billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday traded barbs online over who should lead the space agency, a day after Duffy invited companies to compete with Musk’s SpaceX for a moon landing mission. The spat involving the U.S. space program and the SpaceX CEO, which have extensive financial ties, spilled into public view after Musk responded on social media platform X to reports Duffy wants to fold the National Aeronautics and Space Administration into the Transportation Department. Duffy is also the Transportation Secretary. “The person responsible for America’s space program can’t have a 2 digit IQ,” Musk wrote. The day before, Duffy said on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” program that development of SpaceX’s Starship is behind schedule in its mission to return humans to the moon under the agency’s Artemis program, an effort rivaling China’s moon program. As a result, Duffy said, NASA will invite other companies to compete for the mission, w