‘We’re not going to wait for one company’: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

NASA may sideline SpaceX and choose a different company to land its astronauts on the moon later this decade, acting space agency chief Sean Duffy suggested during TV appearances Monday.

Duffy emphasized that he believes SpaceX, which has a $2.9 billion contract to provide the lunar lander astronauts would ride to the moon’s surface, is lagging behind schedule, potentially thwarting NASA’s efforts to return humans to the moon before China amid a new space race.

“They push their timelines out, and we’re in a race against China,” Duffy told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday morning, referring to SpaceX’s development of Starship — the vehicle the company plans to use as a lunar lander for NASA. “So, I’m going to open up the contract. I’m going to let other space companies compete with SpaceX.”