NASA's acting administrator Sean Duffy is facing flak online for his conversations with socialite Kim Kardashian.
Kardashian, on Thursday's episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, alleged that the 1969 moon landing was fake, prompting a response from Duffy, who is also the current US Secretary of Transportation.
Tagging the 45-year-old, Duffy wrote on X, “Yes, @KimKardashian , we’ve been to the Moon before… 6 times!”. He added, “And even better: @NASAArtemis is going back under the leadership of @POTUS. We won the last space race and we will win this one too."
To this, Kim Kardashian replied “Wait…. what’s the tea on 3I Atlas?!?!!!!!!!?????”. She was referring to the interstellar comet that has sparked a lot of curiosity. This too elicited a response from Duffy.
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{{/usCountry}}To this, Kim Kardashian replied “Wait…. what’s the tea on 3I Atlas?!?!!!!!!!?????”. She was referring to the interstellar comet that has sparked a lot of curiosity. This too elicited a response from Duffy.
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{{/usCountry}}He explained in a separate post, “Great question! @NASA’s observations show that this is the third interstellar comet to pass through our solar system. No aliens. No threat to life here on Earth. 3 = the third, I = interstellar, meaning from beyond our solar system, ATLAS = discovered by our Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) team.” Duffy then proceeded to invite Kim K to the Artemis mission launch at the Kennedy Space Center.
“We love your excitement about our Artemis mission to the Moon. You’re officially invited to launch at Kennedy Space Center!,” he added.
The interaction between the media personality and the Donald Trump government official has sparked reactions online, with many asking Duffy to focus on space explorations.
Reactions to Sean Duffy and Kim Kardashian's exchange
Several people slammed Duffy over the interaction with Kardashian on X. One person commented “Elon must understand that little Duffy isn't paying attention bc he’s playing with Kim Kardashian on X. What a total and complete embarrassment.”
Another said, “Keeping up with the Kardashians? Why don’t we instead focus on keeping up with and beating the Chinese to the Moon?”. The person further added, “Last week Secretary Duffy went on cable TV to criticize NASA’s HLS contractor and partner SpaceX, and today he’s more focused on addressing reality TV slop amidst an ongoing government shutdown and a race to beat China to the Moon. Meanwhile, SpaceX today shared an extensive update on HLS, showing real progress and promise toward fulfilling its obligations toward Artemis III, on or ahead of schedule.”
“We need a full-time Administrator who is devoted wholly to the NASA workforce — not to reality TV stars and cable news hits,” the individual added in the scathing criticism of Duffy.
Yet another person replied to an individual flagging significant delays at the Orlando airport. “Secretary Duffy will get on this, I am sure, after he's done keeping up with the Kardashians,” the person said. Given Duffy's role as the transport secretary, the airport traffic would fall under his purview as well.