Sam Scimemi
Special Assistant for Moon to Mars Architecture Development
NASA
Sam Scimemi is the Special Assistant in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. He is a senior advisor for the implementation of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration endeavor with commercial and international partnerships, including the Artemis program that will return U.S. astronauts to the Moon for the first time in the 21st century.
Mr. Scimemi is the directorate’s primary interface for collaborations with international partners in formulating deep space human exploration activities, and represents the agency across U.S. government, industry, and other domestic stakeholder groups. Mr. Scimemi was also the International Space Station (ISS) Director at NASA Headquarters. He is a recognized leader in human spaceflight, from operations in low-Earth orbit (LEO) aboard the International Space Station and development of a LEO economy, to plans for sending humans to the Moon and onto Mars.
Mr. Scimemi joined NASA in 1985 with the Space Shuttle Program. His experience spans Earth and space science programs including the Hubble Space Telescope, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project, and many others. Most of his technical career has been spent in flight software and avionics development, testing, and operations as well as spacecraft level integration. In his role as the ISS Director, he was responsible for developing commercial LEO and exploration policy with the White House and Congress. He has been at NASA headquarters since 2003, and has worked at the Johnson Space Center, Ames Research Center, and Goddard Space Flight Center.
Mr. Scimemi earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from McNeese State University in 1984 and graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School Senior Executive Fellows program.
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