Amit Kshatriya Helps Steer NASA’s Artemis II Mission

India-West News Desk

HOUSTON, TX — With the completion of Artemis II’s historic moon flyby, where no human had gone so far, the Indian American community is paying attention to Amit Kshatriya.

As associate administrator, NASA’s top civil servant and chief operating officer, Kshatriya is responsible for coordinating the agency’s centers and mission directorates. His role during Artemis II focused on ensuring that the different elements of the program remained aligned, from engineering and operations to safety and mission readiness.

Kshatriya, who joined NASA in 2003, has worked across engineering and operations roles, including as a software engineer, robotics engineer, and spacecraft operator on ISS assembly missions. From 2014 to 2017, he served as a flight director, leading mission control teams responsible for station operations.

He later held management roles in the ISS Vehicle Office, overseeing engineering, logistics, and hardware integration, before moving to NASA headquarters. There, he was part of the team involved in the uncrewed Artemis I mission and later worked on planning and integration for the agency’s Moon to Mars efforts.

Born in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and raised in Katy, Texas, Kshatriya is the son of first generation Indian immigrants. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin.

He has received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Silver Snoopy award for contributions to flight safety.

With Artemis II completed, NASA is expected to use data from the mission to inform the next phases of its lunar program. Kshatriya remains part of the senior leadership overseeing that process.