Elon Musk has attacked NASA’s administrator – and claimed he isn’t smart enough to hold the top job.
The billionaire’s criticism of Sean Duffy came after the space agency said it was open to using moon landers that weren’t manufactured by his company SpaceX.
On X, Musk accused Mr Duffy of “trying to kill NASA”, and wrote: “The person responsible for America’s space program can’t have a 2 digit IQ.”
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While NASA has been planning to use SpaceX’s Starship rocket system to land on the lunar surface, proposals will now be accepted from rivals.
The agency wants to return astronauts to the moon within Donald Trump’s second term and do so before China gets there.
Mr Duffy had told CNBC: “We’re not going to wait for one company. We’re going to push this forward and win the second space race against the Chinese.”
While SpaceX has a $2.9bn (£2.2bn) contract for the Artemis III mission, it has fallen behind schedule – with Starship suffering a series of explosive failures this year.
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Nonetheless, Musk has defended the company’s progress, writing: “SpaceX is moving like lightning compared to the rest of the space industry.
“Moreover, Starship will end up doing the whole moon mission. Mark my words.”
In response, Mr Duffy said: “Love the passion. The race to the Moon is ON. Great companies shouldn’t be afraid of a challenge. When our innovators compete with each other, America wins!”
Mr Duffy is currently the acting administrator of NASA, but reports suggest that he wants to keep the role.
Musk has previously thrown his support behind a billionaire called Jared Isaacman for the top job, who has previously flown on two private SpaceX missions into orbit.
