Our Executive Mentors

Kathryn Lueders, SpaceX Starbase General Manager.

Kathryn Lueders is currently General Manager of Starbase, home of the SpaceX Starship transportation system.  Kathryn Lueders recently retired from NASA on April 30, 2023.  She served as the associate administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD), overseeing the International Space Station Program (ISS), the Commercial LEO Development Program, all communication and navigation services for NASA, all NASA Launch Activities, and overall crew operations across the human spaceflight portfolio.

Prior to that, Lueders served as the first female associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, managing the agency’s full human spaceflight portfolio. 

Before joining NASA Headquarters, Lueders was the manager of the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center which returned transport of NASA crew members back to US soil.  Prior to leading CCP, Lueders served as the ISS Transportation Integration manager, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, overseeing all international spacecraft to the ISS, and also leading the first-time acquisition and successful first flights of the first commercial cargo services to the ISS.   

Lueders began her NASA career in 1992 at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, where she was the Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System and Reaction Control Systems Depot manager. 

Lueders holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration finance from the University of New Mexico and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering from New Mexico State University.  She is married and is most proud of her four children.