(MENAFN- Live Mint) NASA's acting administrator Sean Duffy's rebuttal to reality star Kim Kardashian's remarks that the 1969 Moon landing was fake faced flak on social media, as several users urged Duffy to focus on space expeditions instead.

Kardashian made the comments on the latest episode of her TV series The Kardashians, telling co-star Sarah Paulson that she believes the Moon landing“didn't happen”.

In the episode, Kardashian shows Paulson an interview with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who, along with Neil Armstrong, took the first steps on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission.

“I'm sending you a million articles with both Buzz Aldrin and the other one,” Kardashian says, before reading a quote allegedly from Aldrin about the expedition's scariest moment:

“There was no scary moment because it didn't happen. It could've been scary, but it wasn't because it didn't happen,” she reads.

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Following the broadcast, Duffy - who also serves as Secretary of the Department of Transportation - clapped back at Kardashian on X, writing:“Yes, @KimKardashian, we've been to the Moon before... six 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, Kardashian replied:“Wait.... what's the tea on 3I Atlas?!?!!!!!!!?????” She was referring to the interstellar comet that has generated widespread curiosity - a remark that also drew a response from Duffy.

Kim Kardashian's claimed that the 1969 space mission to land the first man on the Moon was fake.

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 went on to invite Kardashian to attend the Artemis mission launch at the Kennedy Space Center.

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“We love your excitement about our Artemis mission to the Moon. You're officially invited to the launch at Kennedy Space Center!” he added.

Social media reacts

The interaction on X prompted curious netizens to weigh in on the discussion. Here's how they reacted:

One person commented:“Elon must understand that little Duffy isn't paying attention because he's playing with Kim Kardashian on X. What a total and complete embarrassment.”

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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 criticise 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 towards fulfilling its obligations for 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 said.

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