Kirk Shireman currently serves as the Vice President for the Lockheed Martin Lunar Exploration Campaign, a position he has held since joining Lockheed Martin in July 2020.  LEC is responsible for the development of the Ascent Element of the Human Lunar System’s National Team.  The LEC is also responsible for the development of future systems and vehicles to support Human space Exploration on the lunar surface, in lunar orbit and beyond.

Prior to joining Lockheed Martin in July 2020, Kirk served as the International Space Station (ISS) Program Manager.  He was responsible for the overall management, development, integration and operation of the ISS.  This nearly $3B per year, 15-nation program encompasses the design, manufacture, testing and delivery of complex space flight hardware and software and its integration with modules from the international partners into a fully functional and operating permanently manned ISS. In addition, Kirk was responsible for policy development, international partner negotiations and the overall safety and health of the crew and on-orbit vehicle.

Previously, Kirk served as the deputy director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. In his position, he worked with Johnson Center Director Ellen Ochoa to manage one of NASA’s largest installations, with nearly 14,000 civil service and contractor employees – including those at White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, N.M. – and an annual budget of approximately $5.1 billion and helped oversee a broad range of human spaceflight activities.

Prior to his role as deputy center director, Kirk served as deputy ISS program manager from 2006 to 2013. In this position, he was responsible for implementing Program policies, planning and directing the Program’s development and operations, managing the integration of all elements of the Program into one functional system, and ensuring effective cost control of the Program.

Kirk also served as the chair of the ISS Mission Management Team, where he was responsible for all aspects of on-orbit operations of the ISS. He was responsible for the overall management and integration of all Program operations elements, including the United States and international partners. Primary focus was the operations elements supporting the performance of the real-time and near real-time missions.

In March 2019, Kirk received the National Space Club Astronautics Engineer Award.  He has also been recognized with NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal, NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal for successful integration of the ISS’s Russian elements, the Silver Snoopy award in 1990, and the Presidential Rank Award twice 2010 and 2017.  In 2013, Shireman received the Eagle Manned Mission Award for his outstanding leadership of the ISS from the National Space Club at its 56th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner in Washington D.C.