The casus belli occurred when Duffy appeared on CNBC and spoke about NASA’s push to get astronauts back on the moon before the end of Trump’s term. In 2021, the space agency awarded SpaceX, Musk’s company, a $2.89 billion contract to develop the spacecraft that would take astronauts down to the surface on the first two lunar landings—Artemis III and Artemis IV. But SpaceX is not remotely ready to deliver, with serial failures of its mammoth Starship rocket delaying development of the lander. That’s putting the U.S. at a disadvantage in its race with China to have astronauts—or, in the case of China, taikonauts—on the moon before 2030, and Duffy had seen enough.