![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250507-ispace-resilience-moon-mn-0850-2d43b7.jpg\")
An image of the Moon taken on Feb. 15, 2025, by ispace\u2019s Resilience lunar lander at an altitude of 14,439 km.ispace via Business Wire via AP file<\/p>\nIt’s full steam ahead for NASA \u2014 at least according to Sean Duffy, the agency’s acting administrator.<\/p>\n
During an internal employee town hall Thursday, Duffy warned of “letting safety be the enemy of progress” when it comes to winning the new space race, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by NBC News.<\/p>\n
“We are safety driven, and we should be safety driven, and FAA and DOT, we\u2019re the same, but sometimes we can let safety be the enemy of making progress,” said Duffy, who also serves as Transportation Secretary.<\/p>\n
“We have to be able to take some leaps. We have to be able to jump forward in our innovation and drive this mission, and there\u2019s always a balance to that, but we can\u2019t side on the side of doing nothing because we\u2019re afraid of any risk,” he told NASA employees alongside newly named NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for NASA said the agency remains committed to safety.<\/p>\n
Duffy’s comments come amid ongoing turmoil at NASA, with questions lingering about the space agency’s budget and priorities in the years ahead. Since the Trump administration took office, NASA and other government agencies have faced major cuts to funding and personnel as part of a sweeping goal to shrink the size of the federal workforce.<\/p>\n
Duffy on Thursday told his staff that he was angered by the “shade thrown on all of NASA” at this week’s Senate hearing in which witnesses cast doubt that America could beat China to the moon.<\/p>\n
An image of the Moon taken on Feb. 15, 2025, by ispace\u2019s Resilience lunar lander at an altitude of 14,439 km.ispace via Business Wire via AP file<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ll be damned if that is the story that we write,” said Duffy. “We are going to beat the Chinese to the moon. We are going to make sure that we do this safely. We\u2019re going to do it fast. We\u2019re going to do it right.”<\/p>\n
Facing a time crunch<\/p>\n
He noted time is not on NASA’s side.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re under pressure to do this really well, really fast and really safely,” Duffy said.<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s Artemis program, the linchpin of America\u2019s efforts to return astronauts to the moon, aims to conduct regular missions to the lunar surface before the space agency eventually ventures to Mars.<\/p>\n
While the U.S. was dominant during its first moonshot \u2014 the Apollo moon program of the 1960s and 1970s \u2014 that decades-long advantage is now under threat. Several spacefaring nations, including China, Russia, India and Japan, also have their sights set on the moon, setting off a next-generation space race.<\/p>\n
China, in particular, has made rapid gains with its human spaceflight program. In recent months, China successfully tested an uncrewed lunar lander and a new rocket for moon missions \u2014 crucial steps in realizing the country’s ambitions.<\/p>\n