The number one of the American space agency Sean Duffy confirms the race to precede China in the return to selenic soil. Bipartisan discussion for the assignment of funds and for the new International Space Station
Despite the temporary nature of his assignment, the number one of the US space agency Sean Duffy is insisting so that the NASA remains focused on the return of astronauts to the moon possibly already in 2027 And, it is hoped before the hallunge planned by China.
“We cannot miss one day,” Duffy said on September 30th during an interview with the newspaper Aviation Weekon the sidelines of the International Astronautical Congress. “We want to beat the Chinese and therefore we had to recalibrate the mission to concentrate the NASA on our goal of reaching the moon. This was the number one priority”.
The Artemis program
The new lunar mission, the third of Artemis programa trial flight with crew around the moon expected for the start or mid -2026 will follow. With the imminent closure of the government activities of these hours, Duffy said she was worried, but that the agency has prepared emergency plans to guarantee the continuation of the programs.
“We will not close Artemis,” Diffy said, “we have a goal and we want to achieve it, so we took the necessary precautions before this potential closure occurs”.
After the moon, the future of the ISS
After Artemis, Duffy said that the next priority is the Replacing the International Space Station (ISS)whose disposal is scheduled for 2030.
“I don’t want to say it’s a secondary mission, but I’m more concentrated on the moon,” Diffy said. The next phase of the NASA program to stimulate the birth of “commercial” alternatives to the ISS is temporarily suspended, while the Agency evaluates the answers received to a draft of the call for industrial proposals published at the end of August.
Funds and uncertain budget
Duffy, who is also secretary of the transport department, explained: “This is what we should do throughout the US government: request information, request feedback and then recalibrate the way in which to proceed based on the answers we have received. But a timing has not yet been defined for the progress of the program”.
Also the NASA budget for the tax year 2026which begins today October 1st, is uncertain. The Trump administration proposed a total reduction of 24%, equal to 25 billion dollars, albeit the congress has adopted preliminary measures to restore funding. In the meantime, the reconciliation bill for the tax year 2025 has added a one -off increase of ten billion dollars to the agency’s budget.
Political relationships and support for Trump
Duffy is a republican man, not surprisingly he said: “I am at the service of the President and the Administration, but one of the advantages of having served for almost ten years at the congress is that I am working with the Republican senator of Texas Ted Cruz and his democratic omologues to achieve an agreement on how to proceed. Senator Dem Mark Kelly of Arizona and Cruz were both fantastic partners while we were thinking about how we thought about the funds As the future Artemis programs would have been.
He then concluded: “The last administration concentrated elsewhere. This does not mean that we sniff the sciences of the earth nor that we stop sending rover. But we are the only agency that does it, and we will focus on this spatial exploration mission”.
According to him, Trump supported Nasa a lot: “Perhaps because Elon Musk spoke to him about space, the moon or Mars, but he is interested in our success. He is interested in making us win the second race to space,” he argued the head of NASA.
“Having this type of support from the President is essential for a victory and to ensure that the money continues to flow to launch the Artemis missions from number two to the sixth and beyond”.
