Guest Bio:
Michael Ciannilli is NASA’s Program Manager for the Apollo, Challenger, Columbia Lessons Learned. A longtime NASA leader, Mike is responsible for maintaining and presenting the legacy of NASA’s most difficult moments ensuring that the lessons are never forgotten and that culture, communication, and safety stay at the forefront of every mission.
Now independent from NASA, Mike shares these vital lessons with organizations across industries—from energy and healthcare to banking and manufacturing—helping them build safer cultures through honest examination of failure. His approach focuses not just on what went wrong, but why highly talented, passionate teams made critical mistakes and how others can avoid repeating them.
Mike's philosophy:
The only way that we can stay safe is by constantly challenging our assumptions and learning from our most difficult moments.
Beyond the Launchpad: Universal Safety Lessons
The conversation reveals how NASA's hard-won wisdom applies across industries facing similar human-technology integration challenges. Whether in healthcare, energy, or AI development, the lessons about normalization of deviance, failure of imagination, and the importance of psychological safety transcend aerospace.
🔥 The Apollo 1 "Non-Hazardous" Test
Ciannilli reveals how Apollo 1's tragedy stemmed from a "failure of imagination"—the team's inability to envision how small changes could create catastrophic conditions. Pure oxygen environment plus increased Velcro and netting (fuel sources) plus an electrical spark created the perfect storm. The test was labeled "non-hazardous," yet it claimed three astronauts' lives during a ground rehearsal.
⚠️ Normalization of Deviance
Explore how both Challenger and Columbia disasters shared a dangerous pattern: using past "successful" failures as justification for future risk-taking. O-ring damage was seen before Challenger; foam shedding was routine before Columbia. Teams got so comfortable with deviance that they used previous incidents as a rationale for accepting even greater risks.
🎯 The Gray Area Challenge
Learn why the most dangerous decisions happen in the "gray area" where rulebooks don't provide clear answers.
👂 Reading the Room
Discover the critical skill of listening beyond words—reading tone, body language, and what team members aren't saying.
📩 Contact the Guest
Mike is now available to share messages outside the halls of NASA in a passionate effort to help save lives and promote your organization’s mission success.
✉️ If you’d like to explore potential collaborative opportunities with Mike, please reach out to him either via his LinkedIn site or the email below:
➤ LinkedIn or e-mail: rocketstudios@mikeciannilli.com
