Washington, Apr 11: From admiring rocket launches as a child growing up in Houston to steering the operations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Indian-American scientist Amit Kshatriya has had a stellar innings at the space agency that has set on a mission to land astronauts on the moon.

As NASA’s Associate Administrator, Wisconsin-born Kshatriya serves as the highest-ranking civil servant at the agency and as a senior advisor to Administrator Jared Isaacman. 

Kshatriya leads the agency’s 10 centre directors, as well as the mission directorate associate administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He also acts as the agency’s Chief Operating Officer.

Born to first-generation Indian immigrant parents, 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, a suburb of Houston, Texas, to be his hometown.

Kshatriya’s interest in space took root as he watched space launches in Houston, which is home to NASA’s Mission Control at the Johnson Space Centre.

After dabbling in the oil and gas industry and the medical sector after graduation, he joined United Space Alliance, NASA’s primary contractor for the space shuttle program, in 2003.

Kshatriya 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, Kshatriya was assigned to NASA Headquarters as an assistant deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (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 served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Moon to Mars programme as NASA plans to set up a long-term presence on the lunar surface to launch future interplanetary missions.

Kshatriya was named as NASA’s Associate Administrator in September last year.

He was awarded the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for actions as the lead flight director for the 50th expedition to the space station.

Kshatriya is also 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, according to the space agency’s website.

Houston, Apr 11: Artemis II’s astronauts returned from the moon with a dramatic splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than a half-century.

It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar flyby revealed not only swaths of the moon’s far side – never seen before by human eyes – but a total solar eclipse.

They emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight one by one.

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 – or 33 times the speed of sound – a blistering blur not seen since NASA’s Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s. Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the plunge on automatic pilot.

The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout.

All eyes were on the capsule’s life-protecting heat shield that had to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry.

On the spacecraft’s only other test flight – in 2022, with no one on board – the shield’s charred exterior came back looking as pockmarked as the moon.

Like so many others, lead flight director Jeff Radigan anticipated feeling some of that “irrational fear that is human nature”, especially during the six-minute blackout that preceded the opening of the parachutes.

The recovery ship, USS John P Murtha, awaited the crew’s arrival off the coast of San Diego, along with a squadron of military planes and helicopters.

The astronauts’ families huddled in Mission Control’s viewing room, where cheers erupted when the capsule emerged from its communication blackout and again at splashdown nearly 2,000 miles (3,219 km) away.

“A perfect bull’s-eye splashdown,” Mission Control’s Rob Navias reported.

Artemis II’s record flyby and views of moon

Launched from Florida on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another as they deftly navigated NASA’s long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.

Artemis II didn’t land on the moon or even orbit it. But it broke Apollo 13’s distance record and marked the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when the crew reached 252,756 miles (406,771 km).

Then in the mission’s most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll.

During Monday’s record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes of the moon’s far side never seen before by the human eye along with a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular, “just blew all of us away”, Glover said.

Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the moon and Earth.

The Artemis II crew channelled Apollo 8’s first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968.

“We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon, bringing them back safely and to set up for a series more,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Friday from the recovery ship. “This is just the beginning.”

Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain’s King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick “Project Hail Mary”; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV’s original “Star Trek”.

Artemis II was test flight for future moon missions

Despite its rich scientific yield, the nearly 10-day flight was not without technical issues. Both the capsule’s drinking water and propellant systems were hit with valve problems. In perhaps the most high-profile predicament, the toilet kept malfunctioning, but the astronauts shrugged it all off.

“We can’t explore deeper unless we are doing a few things that are inconvenient,” Koch said, “Unless we’re making a few sacrifices, unless we’re taking a few risks, and those things are all worth it.”

Added Hansen: “You do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space and it’s a doozy.”

Under the revamped Artemis program, next year’s Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon’s south pole in 2028.

The Artemis II astronauts’ allegiance was to those future crews, Wiseman said.

“But we really hoped in our soul that we could for just for a moment have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted,” he said.

Islamabad, April 11: An Iranian delegation landed here in the wee hours of Saturday for talks with the US, as the world keeps its fingers crossed for an agreement to end the conflict between the two sides.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while announcing a two-week ceasefire on Wednesday, had said that the US and Iran would hold talks in Islamabad, tagging the presidents of the US and Iran in his statement on X.

The Iranian delegation led by its Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, would participate in the Islamabad Talks slated to begin later Saturday, after the arrival of the US delegation led by Vice President J D Vance, which was on its way to Islamabad.

The Pakistan foreign office said the delegation from Iran was received upon its arrival by Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, along with National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshall Syed Asim Munir, and Minister for Interior, Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi.

“A high-powered delegation from the Islamic Republic of Iran led by Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad today to participate in Islamabad Talks,” the foreign office said in a statement.

Expressing hope that the two sides would engage constructively, Dar reiterated Pakistan’s desire to continue facilitating the parties towards reaching a lasting and durable solution to the conflict in West Asia, according to the statement.

The delegation came amid speculation making rounds on social media, casting doubts on the visit by the Iranians due to the strikes by Israel in Lebanon.

There were some reports quoting Iranian media that the delegation would participate in talks if the conditions agreed in the ceasefire deal were fulfilled.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency had reported that negotiations would not begin until the “preconditions” were met, echoing a message from Ghalibaf before leaving for Islamabad.

“Two of the measures mutually agreed upon between the parties are yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets prior to the commencement of negotiations,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.

“These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.”

Meanwhile, the US delegation under Vice President Vance was expected to land soon in Islamabad.

President Donald Trump, as per reports, has given Vance “some pretty clear guidelines” on the negotiations.

“As the US president said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend an open hand. If they’re going to try to play us, they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive,” Vance told the media before boarding his plane to Islamabad.

The talks are taking place amid a two-week halt in the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began with the former launching attacks on the latter on February 28.

Pakistan led the diplomatic push to bring the two sides to the table, which became possible after an appeal by Prime Minister Sharif earlier this week, leading to a pause in the fighting.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi, who held a telephone call with the country’s ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Reza Shibani, earlier asserted that the US must live up to its ceasefire commitments, which he said included ensuring the truce covers Lebanon.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said that the Israeli attacks on Lebanon blatantly violated the initial ceasefire and would render negotiations meaningless.

A thick security blanket covered Islamabad, which was on ‘red alert’ ahead of the talks.

More than 10,000 police and security personnel have been deployed to ensure multi-layered security for the visiting delegates, officials said.

The Red Zone, housing key buildings, is being protected by the army and the Rangers, and only authorised officials and residents are allowed to go through it.

The upcoming negotiations are being closely watched globally, as their success or failure could have far-reaching implications for West Asia’s security, global energy markets, and international diplomacy.