Trump taps transportation secretary Sean Duffy as acting NASA chief
Amidst unprecedented budget cuts and looming layoffs, U.S. President Donald Trump has appointed Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy as acting NASA Administrator.
The appointment is temporary, and Duffy will continue leading the Department of Transportation while assuming the NASA role, Trump said in a post on his social media site, Truth Social.
“Sean is doing a TREMENDOUS job in handling our Country’s Transportation Affairs, including creating a state-of-the-art Air Traffic Control systems, while at the same time rebuilding our roads and bridges, making them efficient, and beautiful, again,” Trump said.
The appointment is highly unusual. There is no precedent for an acting DOT chief also leading NASA, even on an interim basis. Historically, NASA Administrators have generally been former astronauts, long-time NASA bureaucrats, former congresspeople or military veterans.
Duffy has no formal background in science or space, though the DOT does oversee the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial space transportation and air traffic control. As he will perform both leadership roles simultaneously, it’s likely that his NASA tenure will be focused on implementing Trump’s near-term policy goals.
Those goals include wide-ranging cuts to NASA’s budget that will likely slash many science initiatives and steeply reduce its workforce. The cuts, as spelled out in the White House’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” would reduce the agency’s funding by 25% and decrease headcount by 5,000.
Duffy’s appointment comes just weeks after Trump abruptly withdrew his nomination of billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to NASA Administrator. Isaacman, who made his fortune from his company Shift4 Payments, has flown to space twice on private SpaceX missions. Trump said he rescinded support following a “thorough review of prior associations,” citing Isaacman’s donations to Democratic candidates and the billionaire’s close ties to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Trump’s reversal on Isaacman reportedly led to the souring of relations between the president and Musk.
“I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life,” Trump said in a separate Truth Social post.
Duffy replaces Kennedy Space Center director Janet Petro, a long-time NASA bureaucrat. It’s unclear how long he will remain in the position.
Aria Alamalhodaei covers the space and defense industries at TechCrunch. Previously, she covered the public utilities and the power grid for California Energy Markets. You can also find her work at MIT’s Undark Magazine, The Verge, and Discover Magazine. She received an MA in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Aria is based in Austin, Texas.
