Elon Musk feuds with US transportation chief in social media posts: ‘2 digit IQ’ | SpaceX

Elon Musk attacked US transportation secretary Sean Duffy in a series of posts on X on Tuesday, accusing him of “trying to kill NASA”, suggesting he should be fired and calling him “Sean Dummy”. The posts intensified a long-running feud between Duffy, who is also NASA’s acting chief, and Musk, whose company SpaceX is at the center of the US space program.

Musk’s tirade against Duffy follows the transportation secretary’s announcement Tuesday that NASA will reopen contracts for the agency’s Artemis mission to land humans on the moon, which SpaceX had previously secured. Duffy said SpaceX is behind on its timeline. Duffy suggested the contract could go to another billionaire’s rocket company, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

Duffy’s remarks and Musk’s response are part of a broader fight over the direction of U.S. space travel and a months-long struggle over who will take over leadership of NASA. The conflict was a central part of Musk’s dramatic exit from the White House earlier this year after the Trump administration rejected his preferred choice, Jared Isaacman, from NASA and chose Duffy as acting head of the transportation department.

The debate over who should lead NASA has reignited in recent weeks. Wall StreetJournalIsaacman and Duffy are vying for the job. Trump rejected Isaacman’s position earlier this year, calling him “a blue-blooded Democrat who has never contributed to a Republican before,” citing his donations to the Democratic party. Duffy lobbied for NASA to be placed under the authority of the transportation department, the Journal reported.

Musk, who is no longer part of the administration but is in the process of thawing with Trump after the public outburst, used his platform to criticize Duffy and her reported proposals to bring NASA into the transportation department.

“The person responsible for America’s space program cannot have a 2-digit IQ,” Musk said on the social media platform X, which he owns, on Tuesday.

“Sean Dummy is trying to kill NASA!” Musk said in another post.

The SpaceX CEO also released a poll referencing Duffy’s past as a champion speed-climbing lumberjack and asking: “Should someone whose biggest claim to fame is climbing trees be running America’s space program?”

Musk has long favored Isaacman, his ally and billionaire investor in SpaceX, to head the US space agency. Musk’s company is NASA’s largest private contractor, and the agency has been critical to SpaceX’s growth by providing billions of dollars in financing. SpaceX won $2.9 billion contract in 2021 To provide a lunar lander for the Artemis 3 mission.

The Artemis program, which dates back to Trump’s first term, aims to send astronauts back to the Moon for the first time since 1972. Its initial goal was to land on the Moon’s south pole in 2024 and establish human presence by 2028, reaching Mars, one of Musk’s long-standing goals. But NASA has repeatedly delayed Artemis, and the next step in putting four astronauts into orbit around the moon is now set for no earlier than 2026.