Trump names Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as interim head of NASA

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he is directing Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to be the interim NASA administrator.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he is directing Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to be the interim NASA administrator. “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. 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,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social Wednesday. “Honored to accept this mission. Time to take over space. Let’s launch,” Duffy wrote on X shortly after the president’s post. Trump’s post did not clarify the status of Janet Petro, the director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida who has been serving as NASA’s interim chief since the start of Trump’s second term. She was still listed as the administrator on the agency’s website Thursday. In late May, the president rescinded his nomination of tech billionaire Jared Isaacman to lead NASA, citing a “thorough review of prior associations.” The shake-up came just days before the Senate was expected to vote on the nomination of Isaacman, who has twice traveled to space on private missions and has close ties to billionaire and SpaceX chief Elon Musk.