Advancing NASA

We have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center—episode four hundred, Advancing NASA. I am Gary Jordan. For more than eight years we have brought you the experts behind human spaceflight, and I am grateful to every guest, teammate, leader, and listener who got us here. Like our three hundredth, we are looking forward. Today I am thrilled to welcome Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy—world champion lumberjack, reality TV alum, former U.S. representative, and now U.S. Secretary of Transportation—to share his journey and vision to advance NASA. Enjoy.

Congratulations on four hundred. What an honor to join you. I love long-form conversations—I hosted a podcast for years.

Great to have you at Johnson today. How was the tour?

Incredible. After seeing Crew-11 at Kennedy, walking Johnson and meeting the Artemis II crew underscored it for me: America has to lead in space. If the past was about who controlled the seas, the future is about who controls space. We are a peaceful democracy—but not everyone is—so we need to win the race to the moon and Mars.

For our space community, take us back—big family, Wisconsin roots. Who are you?

I am the tenth of eleven from Hayward, Wisconsin—the muskie capital. Summers on the lake, kids outside instead of on phones. I competed in lumberjack sports—log rolling and especially speed climb up sixty to one hundred feet—and that paid for undergrad and law school. It is pure Americana.

You juggled school, competition, reality TV, and family. How did you balance it?

My marketing degree was not useful, so I took a ski year driving buses in Breckenridge, then went to law school. MTV’s The Real World taught me we have more in common than we think. A Road Rules special is where I met Rachel—she handed me her bag, and I have been carrying it ever since. I finished law school, practiced with my dad, then spent about ten years as a prosecutor while our family grew.

What kept pushing you to the next thing?

I did not have a grand plan. Bus driving was not it; the law fit. I was a bad litigator at first and became good over a decade. I saw the growing urban–rural divide, ran against a forty-two-year incumbent, won, and serving in Congress was an incredible honor for my family.

Now you are U.S. Secretary of Transportation and Acting NASA Administrator. How are you balancing two big roles?

I am honored the president asked me to step in. Safety is core to both jobs. At DOT, recent aviation incidents sharpened our focus on modernizing air traffic control—moving off sixties tech, building faster and more cost-effectively. NASA is a big job too, and FAA–NASA coordination on launches is tight. We can streamline permitting and speak as one government—without compromising safety.

What first inspired you about space?

I grew up on the highs of the shuttle era. Artemis—going back to the moon to stay, then on to Mars—is wildly exciting, but too many Americans do not know we are doing it. Kids have dressed as astronauts for decades for a reason. We need to reignite that imagination.

One month in, what are your first impressions and focus for NASA?

Remarkable people doing remarkable things. Now we have to move faster and sharpen the mission: go to the lunar south pole, deploy fission power, build a base camp, and stay. Plan the post-ISS era with commercial stations so America’s heartbeat in space never stops. On science, many agencies can study climate; only one explores space. Let us aim our science at enabling human exploration while meeting mandates and being helpful where appropriate. And we must be ready when ISS comes down around twenty thirty.

On low Earth orbit: deorbiting ISS and standing up commercial successors—how do you see it?

U.S.–Russia cooperation is critical and, despite wider tensions, a bright spot for deorbit. In parallel, we need to send clear signals and resources to private stations and assess real market demand to shape what comes next.

Let’s talk Artemis and priorities like fission power on the south pole.

Artemis II is targeted for early next year; Artemis III for mid to late twenty twenty-seven. Here is the challenge: if launches cost approximately four billion dollars each, a sustained moon program is not viable. We must drive costs down, learn from private-sector efficiencies, and define Artemis four, five, and six within realistic budgets.

And your approach to NASA science?

When everything is a priority, nothing is. Focus our science on human exploration, fulfill congressional mandates, partner with other agencies on the rest, and be disciplined in tight budgets. Our team is mission-driven, and the president is personally engaged—he wants us to win to the moon.

Even if your tenure is short, what do you want your lasting impact to be?

Set a clear North Star and inspire America about what comes next. Tell the story, lean into media and podcasters, and rally support for Artemis—go to the moon, stay, then go to Mars.

Secretary Duffy, thanks for joining us—and congrats again on four hundred. I hope you learned something today. For the latest from around the agency, visit NASA dot gov and NASA dot gov slash podcasts. Follow NASA Johnson on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Email us at nasa dash houston podcast at mail dot nasa dot gov. This episode was recorded on August eighteen, twenty twenty-five. Producer is Dane Turner; audio engineers are Will Flato and Daniel Tohill; social media by Kelsey Howron. Houston We Have a Podcast was created and is supervised by me, Gary Jordan. Special thanks to Stephanie Castillo, Carlos Santiago, and Bethany Stevens, and thanks again to Secretary Sean Duffy. Please rate and review, and we will be back next week.

Thank you for having me—and four hundred, that is fantastic.