Amit Kshatriya has been appointed as first head of NASA’s new Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington to carry out the agency’s human exploration activities at the Moon and Mars for the benefit of humanity. This new office resides within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, reporting to its Associate Administrator Jim Free.
“The Moon to Mars Program Office will help prepare NASA to carry out our bold missions to the Moon and land the first humans on Mars,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Amit Kshatriya is an Indian-origin engineer who previously served as acting deputy associate administrator for Common Exploration Systems Development, providing leadership and integration across several of the programs that now fall within the new office.
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. He and his wife are the proud parents of three children, and he is also the proud son of first-generation Indian immigrants to the United States. He began his career in the space program in 2003, working 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 in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate as an assistant deputy associate administrator, 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.
Currently, he directs and leads the programs to ensure Artemis and Mars planning, development, and operations are consistent with ESDMD requirements, and serves as the single point of focus for risk management. Previously, Kshatriya served as the acting deputy associate administrator for the Common Exploration Systems Development Division. In this role, Mr. Kshatriya 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.
