“If you don’t know the mission of NASA, that’s a problem” says Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy spoke to media this afternoon at EAA AirVenture about new Federal Aviation Administration rules and NASA.

Duffy announced that starting today, the new program called Modernization of Airworthiness Certificates or “MOSAIC” would go into effect. In short, this program will permit aircraft like the Cessna 172 to be considered a light sport aircraft.

FAA Acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau shared that a major new requirement is only the stall speed, a maximum of 61 knots, would be the determining factor and not the number of seats.

According to the Experimental Aircraft Association, the idea was championed by the organization in summer 2023 and was finally put in place today.

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“The best ideas don’t come from the DOT, the best ideas do not come from the FAA, but from all of you,” Duffy said.

General Aviation News reported in April 2025 that the rule was not expected to be released until August 2025, making today’s announcement an early surprise.

The announcement that the rule goes into effect today was met with applause and cheers from a crowd estimated at more than 300 people.

Duffy said multiple times that he values deadlines and will continue to push progress in the FAA at a rate quicker than before. These new upgrades to the FAA include new telecom systems, being upgraded from copper to fiber, and a new center.

Currently only $300 million of the expected $2.5 billion is in the hands of the FAA, meaning that a new center will still take some time.

Role at NASA

After President Donald Trump pulled the nomination of crowd favorite Jared Isaacman, the future of NASA remained in limbo. On July 9, President Trump announced Duffy as the new interim NASA administrator, replacing Janet Petro.

“You need an interim administrator. Otherwise, we stall at NASA,” Duffy said in reply to Space Explored about his newly appointed role.

He added that he will be able to help make critical decisions instead of waiting more than six months for an administrator to be confirmed. Had Isaacman been confirmed in June, Duffy would not need to balance his roles.

Duffy added, “But again, this is my main priority: aviation, aviation safety, ATC modernization. Getting this done is critical for this administration, for the President, for me, for the FAA. So you will not see a skip in the beat.”

As for NASA, Duffy shares the same position as Isaacman and the administration. “We need to sell the American people on where we’re going, why we’re going and as the human race, and specifically Americans, we’re explorers. If you don’t know the mission of NASA, that’s a problem.”

“The Artemis program, a lot of people don’t know what it is or what we want to do. Everyone knew what Apollo was.”