[Global Times Special Correspondent in the United States Xiao Da Wang Yi] After Sean Duffy, acting director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), announced the resumption of the bid for the manned moon landing program and publicly claimed that Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)'s "starship" spacecraft development progress lags behind schedule, SpaceX founder Musk posted several posts on social media on the 21st, scolding Duffy's IQ as "only double digits" and "destroying NASA." At the same time, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that Duffy and Musk's friend, billionaire Isaac Mann, the battle for the position of NASA director was "getting ugly." The two men recently lobbied in the government and Congress respectively, and even called Trump himself. 2026 is considered to be a critical year for the United States to try to achieve the moon landing plan before China. Recently, U.S. political circles have frequently speculated on the "Sino-US moon landing dispute." Seeing that China is making solid and stable progress, American politicians are becoming increasingly anxious. NASA has scheduled a number of major missions to the manned moon for next year, but NASA's leadership battle, the complex relationship between the Trump administration and Musk, and the conflict between the White House and Congress over whether to continue the traditional lunar landing route have plunged NASA into a whirlpool of political disputes. The US media is worried that these political disputes may delay the US moon landing plan again.
Musk is shooting again.
In the aftermath of Trump, American billionaire, SpaceX founder Musk has been quiet for a long time on the net. But on the 21st local time, he suddenly posted a series of posts on the social platform X, calling Daphne “Shaun the Fool.” Musk did not hide his contempt for Daphne: “The intelligence of the people responsible for the US Space Program can not be just two digits,” “Can the greatest achievement just be a person who climbs trees to manage the American space program well?” he also gave two answers to the question: “Yes, the (tree climbing) skill of the gorilla is the most!” and “No, he needs more brains!” reports, Musk was a professional timber rider in the early years.
Turkey's Anadolu News Agency quoted the analysis of space experts as saying that NASA's announcement shows that its goal of manned landing on the moon in 2027 is no longer realistic.
According to Reuters, Musk will invite other companies to compete for the mission, mainly because the day before Daffy announced that the development of the SpaceX "Starcraft" spacecraft is far behind the plan, which will hinder NASA from achieving its goal of "picking back to the Moon before China", so NASA will invite other companies to compete for the mission. SpaceXly signed a $2.9 billion contract with NASA in 2021 to plan to convert the "Starcraft" spacecraft into a lunar lander, sending U.S. astronauts to the moon's surface in 2027.
Duffy also named the "Blue Origin" company established by Amazon founder Bezos to participate in the bidding on the same day. In response, Musk said SpaceX was progressing "as fast as lightning" and ridiculed Blue Origin for "never putting a payload into orbit."
The US "Political News Network" said that after Musk bombarded Duffy, the US Department of Transportation forwarded a post posted by Duffy himself on social platform X on the 21st. In the post, Duffy said: "I just like this kind of 'enthusiasm'. The race to the moon has begun. When innovators compete with each other, the United States wins!"
The battle for NASA administrator's position goes into fierce battle
In fact, Daffy suddenly announced the resumption of the moon landing program bidding, rather than speaking to the public, rather than performing to "a person" - US President Trump.Daffy said in a media interview on 20th that Trump "wants the United States to return to the moon before the end of its current term and establish a base there, now there are 1186 days to the end of the current presidential term, so we want to open the contract."
On the one hand, Duffy's move is to "show loyalty" to Trump, and on the other hand, to keep the post of acting director of NASA and try to "turn positive". NASA is one of the departments with the largest funding from the federal government in the United States, and the position of the director can provide huge media exposure. However, Duffy is currently only the acting director of NASA, and the acting period will end at the end of the year.
The Wall Street Journal said that the battle over the position of NASA director is "getting ugly", with Acting Director Duffy intending to become a regular member, and the American billionaire Isaac Mann, who was previously withdrawn by President Trump's nomination for NASA director, recently plans to rejoin the competition. Isaac Man is the founder of a high-tech company in the United States. He has a close relationship with Musk and invested in SpaceX founded by Musk. At Musk's recommendation, he was once nominated by Trump as NASA director. But at the end of May, as Musk fell out with Trump and stepped down as head of the "Department of Government Efficiency", the White House withdrew its nomination of Isaac Mann as NASA director the next day.
The Wall Street Journal quoted people familiar with the matter as revealing that representatives of Duffy and Isaac Mann lobbied top officials of the White House and Congress last weekend, and even called Trump himself. Duffy contacted multiple industry insiders to call the White House to emphasize Isaac Man's shortcomings, including concerns that Isaac Man was spending money on professional lobbyists and social media celebrities to lobby. This statement was denied by Isaac Man.
Billionaire controls U.S. moon landing program
In addition to Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’s “Blue Origin” companies, U.S. military giants such as Lockheed Martin and others have also tried to point out the moon plan. They claim to be able to replicate a moon landing cabin similar to the Apollo plan in a short time. However, NASA has previously estimated that this “antiquity” moon landing cabin would cost as much as $20 billion to $30 billion.
The American tech blog “Ars Technica” said on the 21st that a fierce fight behind the scenes was taking place between the sides, but it was pretty bad for NASA. Previously, because of the Trump administration’s massive cuts, NASA’s staff and tech staff had been reduced by 20 percent. Employee morals have fallen, leadership is competing for profits, and for the American space community, NASA is shaking in the wind, like trying to run in lead shoes, but only “seeing China keep moving forward and climbing.”
NASA has invested more than $40 billion in the development of spacecraft and rockets for manned moon landing, but the agency has had to rely on private companies in almost all aspects of its lunar mission. This new stance gives billionaires and their space companies unprecedented power, which may work in exciting and even dangerous ways, all power in the hands of those who own capital.