Based at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the Exploration Architecture, Integration, and Science (EAIS) Directorate is a unique mix of scientists, engineers, mission planners and architects, and program analysts.

A space architect is responsible for designing and planning habitable environments beyond Earth's atmosphere, encompassing life support systems and human habitation in extreme environments.

The mission of Space Architecture is to put man at the centre, transforming uninhabitable places, with extreme climatic and physical conditions, into living environments in Earth-like conditions.

Orbital architecture is the architecture of structures designed to orbit around the Earth or another astronomical object. Examples of currently-operational orbital architecture are the International Space Station and the re-entry vehicles Space Shuttle, Soyuz spacecraft, and Shenzhou spacecraft.