Acting NASA Associate Administrator Vanessa Wyche, left, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro, right, react as they watch the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft splash down with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, from the Space Operations Center at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy will now also oversee NASA as its newest interim administrator. The new leadership announcement came in a late-night post by President Donal Trump 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 wrote. “He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time.”

Duffy was a reality show personality known for appearances in MTV shows “Road Rules: All Stars” and “The Real World: Boston” before making his turn to politics, first as a district attorney in Ashland County, Wisconsin, in 2002 and then as a member of Congress from 2010 to 2019.

Trump announced Duffy as his pick for the position of Secretary of Transportation on Nov. 18, 2024. The Senate confirmed his nomination in a 77-22 vote on Jan. 28, 2025, just days after the second Trump administration began.

“Honored to accept this mission,” Duffy wrote on X following Trump’s post. “Time to take over space. Let’s launch.”

NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Casey Swails, left, acting NASA Associate Administrator Vanessa Wyche, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro, NASA Associate Administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate Ken Bowersox, right, watch the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft splash down with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, from the Space Operations Center at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The announcement Wednesday night comes a little more than five weeks after Trump yanked the nomination of businessman Jared Issacman for the position of NASA Administrator. Isaacman, the founder of Shift4 and the commander of two commercial astronaut missions, was voted favorably out of the Senate Commerce Committee in a 19-9 vote in April and was heading towards a full Senate vote when the nomination was pulled.

At the time Trump pulled Isaacman’s nomination on May 31, he said “I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space.” Since then, the President made a few comments expanding on his decision, including a lengthy Truth Social post on July 6, which was mostly attacking his largest political donor in the 2024 election, Elon Musk.

He and Musk, who also led Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, had a very public falling out, which included a number of jabs coming from both sides.

“Additionally, Elon asked that one of his close friends run NASA and, while I thought his friend was very good, I was surprised to learn that he was a blue blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before,” Trump wrote in his July 6 post.

“Elon probably was, also. I thought it was 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.”

Isaacman pushed back the following day, stating in a post on X that he is a self-described “right-leaning moderate” who made donations to both political parties “though 10x more to Republicans.” He also said the he disclosed his political contributions before his nomination was submitted to the Senate and said his relationship with Musk was just professional.

The Polaris Dawn crew, seen during a recorded video captured amid the mission. Left to right: SpaceX crew trainer and spacewalker Sarah Gillis, pilot Scott Poteet, commander and lead spacewalker Jared Isaacman and SpaceX medical officer Anna Menon. Image: SpaceX.

Since Trump’s second term began, Janet Petro, director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, has served as the Interim NASA Administrator. Prior to the Wednesday announcement, there wasn’t an indication that Petro would not continue leading NASA until a new nominee was selected. She’s served in the role 171 days.

The shift comes at a key time for the agency as the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget from the White House would cut NASA’s overall budget by about 25 percent, which would include a nearly 50 percent reduction in the science budget.

Even so, giving high level officials multiple jobs is not new for Trump’s second term in office. More than half a dozen people are now juggling two or more key federal positions:

Todd Blanche Deputy Attorney General Acting Librarian of Congress Daniel Driscoll Secretary of the Army Acting Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Sean Duffy Secretary of Transportation Acting NASA Administrator Jamieson Greer U.S. Trade Representative  Acting Director, U.S. Office of Government Ethics Acting Special Counsel, U.S. Office of Special Counsel Richard Grenell Special U.S. Envoy President, The Kennedy Center Marco Rubio Secretary of State White House National Security Adviser Acting Archivist of the United States Acting Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development  Russel Vought Director, U.S. Office of Management and Budget Acting Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bear

Trump didn’t indicate in his latest announcement when he intends to nominate someone to become the Senate-confirmed NASA Administrator. During his first term, Robert Lightfoot held the interim position for 458 days until Jim Bridenstine took the reigns in April 2018.