PHOTO: NASA
As the four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, geared up for the launch of Artemis II moon mission, Amit Kshatriya was a familiar figure updating the media, and the nation on the state of readiness.
At the April 1 prelaunch press briefing, he is quoted saying, “Everything continues to look good, and there are no issues preventing us from pressing ahead,” the Scientific American reported. “Twenty-five years of flying space station has given us reliability and understanding of the elements of the machines that we’re flying around the moon, to a large extent, which is why we’re comfortable taking the risks,” he added.
Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator, serving as the highest-ranking civil servant at the agency and as a senior advisor to the administrator, is one of the key personnel at the space agency behind the 2nd major attempt to discover more about the moon.
NASA describes him as “the proud son of first-generation Indian immigrants to the United States,” in his biography. Born in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Kshatriya considers Katy, Texas, his hometown.
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A highly decorated official, Kshatriya joined the space agency in 2003, and through his years there, he worked as a software engineer, robotics engineer, and spacecraft operator primarily focused on the robotic assembly of the International Space Station.
Today, he leads the agency’s 10 center directors, as well as the mission directorate associate administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He also acts as the agency’s chief operating officer, according to his bio on the NASA website.
Kshatriya previously served as the deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars Program in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. In that role, he was responsible for program planning and implementation for human missions to the Moon and Mars. He directed and led the programs to ensure Artemis and Mars planning, development, and operations were consistent with ESDMD requirements, and served as the single point of focus for risk management, the NASA bio says.
Prior to his ESDMD role, Kshatriya served as the acting deputy associate administrator for the Common Exploration Systems Development Division where he directed and provided leadership and integration for the Space Launch System, Orion, and Exploration Ground Systems Programs, as well as associated Artemis Campaign Development Division initiatives linking the agency’s Moon to Mars objectives.
Kshatriya has risen through the ranks. From 2014 to 2017, he served as a space station flight director, where he led global teams in the operations and execution of the space station during all phases of flight.
From 2017 to 2021, he became deputy, and then acting manager, of the ISS Vehicle Office, where he was responsible for sustaining engineering, logistics, and hardware program management. In 2021, he was assigned to NASA Headquarters as an assistant deputy associate administrator for ESDMD, where he was an “integral part” of the team that returned a spacecraft designed to carry humans to the Moon during the Artemis I mission, NASA notes.
He has a bachelor of science in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, and a master of arts in mathematics from The University of Texas at Austin.
Decorated with the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for actions as the lead flight director for the 50th expedition to the space station, Kshatriya also is the recipient of a Silver Snoopy, an award astronauts bestow for outstanding performance contributing to flight safety, for his actions as lead robotics officer for the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Dragon demonstration mission to the orbiting laboratory.