Former NASA Test Director, Leadership Expert, Risk and Organizational Learning Expert
Mike Ciannilli’s work is grounded in lived responsibility inside environments where failure carried real consequences. During his 30 years at NASA, he worked in roles that demanded disciplined thinking under pressure, clear communication, careful risk management, and an unwavering commitment to learning from experience. As a NASA Test Director, Mike operated at the center of Space Shuttle operations, where decisions mattered and success depended on teams recognizing warning signs, challenging assumptions, and communicating openly. His career also placed him close to some of NASA’s most consequential moments, shaping his understanding of how organizations respond to failure and ensure hard-earned lessons lead to meaningful change. Mike does not speak about failure from hindsight; he speaks from experience inside complex systems where learning had to survive pressure. Today, he brings those lessons to leaders and organizations across industries, helping them recognize risk earlier, strengthen communication and accountability, make better decisions under pressure, and move beyond simply documenting lessons learned to applying them in ways that create lasting change and prevent avoidable failures.
Preventing Failure in Space Missions: Lessons from Columbia | Mike Ciannilli
Former NASA SPACE Technical Advisor for TV Streaming and Documentaries
What NASA Teaches About Failure - Mike Ciannilli Podcast Highlights
What Apollo 1 Still Teaches Artemis
Drawing on three decades of NASA experience, Mike explores the lessons behind some of the most consequential moments in spaceflight history. Through powerful storytelling and real operational experience, he shows how organisations can turn lessons learned into better decisions, stronger teams and future success.
Most ethical failures begin gradually, not with one obvious wrong decision. Drawing on the events leading up to the Challenger tragedy, Mike explores how pressure, culture and repeated small deviations can shift standards over time, helping leaders recognise ethical drift and act before it becomes consequential.
Drawing on his experience leading 21 Space Shuttle launch countdowns and supporting 58 missions, Mike introduces healthcare audiences to the Test Director Mentality: a practical approach to leadership when the stakes are high. He explores how hierarchy, pressure, communication and silence can affect whether critical information reaches the right people in time.
Mike Ciannilli is a former NASA Test Director, leadership and organizational learning expert, and internationally recognized speaker who spent 30 years inside the U.S. space program. During his career, he supported 58 Space Shuttle flights, led 21 launch countdowns, and helped launch 378 people into space. Working in one of the world’s most demanding high-consequence environments gave Ciannilli a firsthand understanding of leadership under pressure, risk management, communication, and the decisions that separate success from failure.
Following the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, Ciannilli helped lead recovery efforts and dedicated much of his career to ensuring NASA’s hardest-earned lessons would not be forgotten. He led the Columbia Research and Preservation Office, supported Challenger preservation efforts, helped develop the Forever Remembered memorial, and created NASA’s Apollo, Challenger, Columbia Lessons Learned Program. His contributions to human spaceflight and mission safety earned him NASA’s prestigious Silver Snoopy Award, presented by astronauts for significant contributions to flight safety and mission success.
Today, Ciannilli brings those lessons to organizations and leaders through his Preventing Failure: Lessons Learned to Lessons Applied leadership discipline. Through compelling storytelling and practical insights from decades at NASA, he helps audiences recognize warning signs, challenge assumptions, communicate risk, strengthen accountability, and turn lessons learned into lasting changes in behavior. His message equips leaders across industries to build stronger teams, make better decisions under pressure, and prevent avoidable failures before they happen.
Excellent speech at our recent Public Area Security session, at the Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) Public Safety and Security Conference. Beyond any and all expectations!
Senior VP, Security, Airports Council International
Outstanding Presentation! You have given so many invaluable things for me and my senior leadership team to think about…and most importantly, to act on.
Safety Executive, Walt Disney World
Thank you again for such a powerful and memorable speech. Looks like we had over 1000 employees attend. Glad we rented out the entire Melbourne Auditorium just for your talk, it was worth it!
Executive, Leonardo DRS
