Sean Duffy, the current Transportation Secretary, will succeed Janet Petro, who also held the role in an acting capacity.
The confusing situation comes after President Donald Trump last month surprisingly withdrew his original pick for the position, Jared Isaacman, days before the entrepreneur was due to be appointed.
The twin developments could have large ramifications for Australia’s space sector, with ELO2 currently working on sending a rover to the moon to support NASA’s wider Artemis mission.
In a social media post, President Trump said Duffy was doing a tremendous job handling the United States' transportation affairs.
“He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time. Congratulations, and thank you, Sean,” he wrote.
“Honoured to accept this mission,” Duffy posted on X shortly afterwards. “Time to take over space. Let’s launch.”
Duffy becomes the latest senior official to hold multiple jobs in the administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general.
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The news of Duffy’s appointment comes alongside a report by the US news website Politico, which claimed that 2,145 senior-ranking NASA employees would be made redundant. Staff, it added, would be offered early retirement, buyouts and deferred resignations.
NASA said in response that it was committed to its mission but would, in the future, be working with a “more prioritised budget”, reflecting long-standing reports that the space agency would see huge cuts to its science programs.
Previous pick for the job Isaacman hinted he was against this move, telling a Senate committee a potential 50 per cent cut would “not appear to be an optimal outcome”.
“If confirmed, I will advocate for strong investment in space science, across astrophysics, planetary science, earth science, lunar science, and heliophysics, and for securing as much funding as the government can reasonably allocate,” he said.
President Donald Trump gave no reason for his decision to pull Isaacman’s nomination but said in a social media post that the next leader of the space agency needed to be “mission aligned” and put “America first in space”.
“The administrator of NASA will help lead humanity into space and execute President Trump’s bold mission of planting the American flag on the planet Mars,” the White House said in a statement.
“It’s essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda, and a replacement will be announced directly by President Trump soon.”
President Trump said directly on social media that the decision was taken “after a thorough review of prior associations”, but didn’t elaborate on what that meant. While The New York Times later reported the “prior associations” were related to old donations to Democratic candidates, that information had seemingly been in the public domain for months.
Elon Musk, meanwhile, recently left his formal position at the White House, leading to speculation that the two exits are interlinked. Isaacman issued a statement in response, insisting he was “incredibly grateful” to President Trump and the Senate. He later reacted to Duffy’s appointment, saying it was a “great move”.
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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