According to Duffy, he believes NASA will have "made leaps and bounds on our mission to get to Mars" within the next decade and hopes the U.S. will "be on the cusp of putting human boots on Mars" by that time.

The secretary's comments come after he released a video declaring that America will "win the second space race" against China.

Duffy said the U.S. will be "going back to the moon, and this time, when we plant our flag, we stay. I'm committed to getting us back to the moon before President Trump leaves office."