Indian-American Amit Kshatriya Appointed As Associate Administrator And Chief Operating Officer At NASA

Hyderabad: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has appointed Indian-American Amit Kshatriya as the US space agency's new associate administrator, which is the top civil service role within the organisation. The announcement was made on Wednesday by acting NASA Administrator Sean P Duffy.

In this role, Kshatriya will serve as a senior advisor to Duffy and act as the agency's chief operating officer. He will also lead the agency's 10 centre directors as well as the mission directorate associate administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

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. Born in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Kshatriya 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," NASA said.

Kshatriya received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for leading the 50th space station expedition and was honoured with the Silver Snoopy award for his role in ensuring flight safety during the Dragon demonstration mission.

Amit Kshatriya: Career at NASA

Kshatriya has been working with the US space agency for almost 22 years. In his most recent role at NASA, he served as the deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars Program in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD). Being 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, NASA said.

Before taking on the ESDMD role, NASA revealed that Kshatriya served as acting deputy associate administrator for the Common Exploration Systems Development Division, overseeing key programs like the Space Launch System, Orion, and Exploration Ground Systems, along with Artemis Campaign Development Division initiatives linking NASA's Moon to Mars objectives.

Kshatriya started his journey at the space agency in 2003 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, leading 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 the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD), playing a key role in returning a spacecraft designed to carry humans to the Moon during the Artemis I mission.