The nation’s top space agency announced September 3, 2025, it has selected exploration-focused Indian American as its Associate Administrator. Acting NASA Administrator Sean P. Duffy named Amit Kshatriya, a 20-year NASA veteran, to the agency’s top civil service role.
Kshatriya was most recently the deputy in charge of the Moon to Mars Program in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, the press release from NASA said. In this role, Kshatriya was responsible for program planning and implementation for crewed missions to the Moon through the Artemis campaign in preparation for humanity’s first mission to Mars.
Kshatriya is one of only about 100 people in history to serve as a mission control flight director.
Promoting Kshatriya to NASA’s top ranks puts America’s return to the Moon through Artemis at the very core of our agency, NASA said, adding that the move “exemplifies President Donald J. Trump and Duffy’s seriousness about returning Americans to the Moon and before China.”
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“Amit has spent more than two decades as a dedicated public servant at NASA, working to advance American leadership in space. Under his leadership, the agency will chart a bold vision to return to the Moon during President Trump’s term,” said Duffy. “Amit’s knowledge, integrity, and unwavering commitment to pioneering a new era of exploration make him uniquely qualified to lead our agency as associate administrator. With Amit we’ll continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible.”
Kshatriya’s promotion also signals how the Trump Administration sees the commercial space sector as an American economic engine, the agency said. “By putting a proven leader at the top, NASA is set to partner even more closely with America’s booming space industry, grow the space economy, and ensure the future of exploration is built in the United States.”
According to the biography given by NASA, Kshtriya began working at the space agency in 2003. During his career there, he has worked as a software engineer, robotics engineer, and spacecraft operator primarily focused on the robotic assembly of the International Space Station.
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.
Kshatriya holds 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.
He was born in Brookfield, Wisconsin, but considers Katy, Texas, to be his hometown. A son of first-generation Indian immigrants to the United States, Kshatriya and his wife are parents to three children.
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.
“He brings unparalleled operational and strategic experience to NASA’s executive leadership team,” according to NASA.