Michael Massimino

Former NASA Astronaut, First to Tweet from Space
New York Times Bestselling Author
Media Personality
Professor, Columbia University

Mike Massimino is a former NASA Astronaut, a New York Times bestselling author, a Columbia University professor, and a media personality.

As a spacewalker on the final two Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions, Mike was faced with both success and life-threatening challenges as he performed the most intricate repair ever attempted in space. Mike set a team record for cumulative spacewalking time on a single space shuttle mission, was the last person to work inside of the Hubble Space Telescope, and was the first person to tweet from space. He persisted through three rejections over 7 years on his way to becoming an astronaut, including overcoming a medical disqualification by training his eyes and brain to see better.

Mike has made numerous television appearances and movie cameos, including a recurring role as himself on the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory. He was featured in National Geographic Television’s One Strange Rock and in the Netflix series Worn Stories. Mike is a frequent guest on morning shows and late-night television including The Today Show, Good Morning America, and The Daily Show, and a guest expert on network and cable news including NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNBC.

Mike’s first book, Spaceman: An Astronaut’s Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe, has received rave reviews and is a New York Times best-seller. His second book, Spaceman: The True Story of a Young Boy’s Journey to Becoming an Astronaut (for young readers) is a National Science Teachers Association 2021 Best STEM Book Winner.

In Mike’s new book, Moonshot: A NASA Astronaut’s Guide to Achieving the Impossible, he distills stories and insights from NASA into an actionable guide to accomplish your biggest goals. Mike reveals how to make possible the seemingly impossible—on Earth. Written with characteristic wit and a big heart, Mike identifies ten hard-earned lessons of spaceflight and his other life experiences.

Mike uses humor and his unique storytelling ability to inspire audiences to identify the passion in their work, to use teamwork and innovation to solve problems, to provide leadership in the face of adversity and crisis, and to never give up when pursuing a goal.

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Past Hosts Include:

Uber Freight
Isuzu Trucks
McDonald's
Marriott Hotels
Zoom

Pfizer
Capital One
Google
United Healthcare
Amazon

Rave Reviews About Michael Massimino

“

Amazing, you had all 300+ of us laughing, crying, and reflecting. A few quick pieces of feedback we got after the 4-hour day of programming… 'Best speaker I've ever heard...and I've been at this company for 10 years' 'Really enjoyed the interview with Mike Massimino. Absolutely incredible person to hear from' …On your favorite part of the day ... 'Mike Massimino 100%

- Google

”

More rave reviews

"Awesome, awe-inspiring, brilliant speaker, incredible man. I learned so much, not just about resilience. It was like a masterclass in leadership, humility, and presenting all rolled into one enthralling session."

-Roche

"It went absolutely amazing! He did a great job and the audience gave him a standing ovation. He is wonderful and we would definitely love to have him as a keynote speaker again!"

-Kindle Communications

"Our leaders were inspired by your story and I believe walked away with a renewed sense of purpose and ready to focus on our new aspiration and goal. Your determination has encouraged us to think differently and be more courageous in our pursuits to impact society."

-Pfizer

"Mike was a hit and made everyone's day. His presentation was really well done and set a great, positive and fun tone for our event. He was an absolute pleasure to work with. We really appreciate all the time he took to speak and take pictures with our customers. Everyone loved him and his keynote was stellar. We absolutely loved having him at Zoomtopia."

-Zoom

"We have gotten an incredible amount of positive feedback about your talk, and to say you ‘delivered’ would be a complete understatement. Thank you for helping to inspire my team to be at their best, and for helping Janssen Oncology to DREAM BIG and GO FAR."

-Janssen Pharmaceuticals

"Mike was amazing!! His talk was spot on. His delivery was totally engaging. An absolute delight. The CEOs love him. We love him. We want more of Mass!!"

-Omnicom

"People really enjoyed your stories, perspective, humor and found you really engaging and genuine! They loved the fact you took the time to connect your keynote to what we were trying to do with our mission week (a lot of speakers don’t take the time to do that). And a lot of comments around the fact that you walked around and talked to people/took pictures. I’ve received many “best speaker we’ve had” comments. So- THANK YOU so much, again! "

-Fortune 500 Company

"We just wanted to say a big thank you for helping inspire our teams yesterday. All of those docs and frontline team members (and executives!) are buzzing with smiles today and repeating your stories. And thank you for taking the extra time to sign books and pose for pics. The messages that you deliver are very applicable to the work we do in acute healthcare."

-Orlando Health

"On behalf of the entire marketing leadership team THANK YOU once again for joining us for the seminar and sharing your amazing story! For our team, your talk was incredibly powerful and inspiring! We have heard so many positive comments. It gave a lot of meaning to the seminar and I know people will continue using your stories and quotes for a long time!"

-The LEGO Group

"OMG – he was awesome! Everyone loved him!! He stayed to sign books and I think all 300 people waited in line to have him do so. We extended lunch by 30 minutes so that everyone could have a chance to meet him, get their photos with him, and get their books signed. Mike is so genuine and so personable. He mingled with everyone before and after his talk. He is truly fabulous. We’ll certainly recommend him to other groups within UnitedHealth Group. We couldn’t have had a better motivator for our team."

-United Healthcare

"I just wanted to send a note to thank you for delivering such a great presentation. I’ve received so many messages from clients and colleagues expressing how much they enjoyed it and how inspired they were."

-Gartner

"Awesome first morning for our #CommercialXcellence summit! You know it’s going to be great when Michael Massimino kicks off your day!"

-DuPont Personal Protection

"Great session on driving Commercial Xcellence with our DuPont Water & Protection business with an amazing presentation from NASA astronaut Michael Massimino. Totally inspiring story! Thanks Mike!"

-DuPont

"Mike, thank you for the great work you did for DuPont today. We all love the opportunity to work with you and we all commented that we pick up something new each time we listen to your presentation- so thank you for that as well!"

-Go West Creative

"This was just truly amazing! Mike’s talk was truly inspiring and so motivating! Everyone loved it!"

-Github

"The session went really well! We had almost 300 people from around the world tune in live for Mike's presentation. He told a great story and wove in messages around not giving up on your dreams, teamwork, working in isolation, and a lot of others. We have received extremely good feedback from participants, unsolicited, around his story and message. I think it was a home run or a perfect lift off!"

-3M

"Thank you so much Michael Massimino for joining us! You crushed it! If you are looking for an engaging speaker with a great message… reach out to Astro Mike!"

-Florida Chamber of Commerce

"I sincerely appreciate the obvious thoughtfulness and effort to incorporate all the points we discussed the other day. I know this is going to be a big hit at the conference. I can’t think of a better message to close our meeting. Thanks for putting this together so quickly on what I know was very short notice."

-National Council for Air and Stream Improvement

"As anticipated you delivered a talk that was spot on! The comments have all been on how relevant your content was to our business. Thanks for your prep and tremendous message!"

-Terumo Aortic

"Thank You on behalf of all my DuPont colleagues who created, developed, and hosted the Emerging Leaders Conference. Your professionalism, sincerity, and heartfelt connection with our emerging leaders resonated beyond belief."

-Dupont Safety

"Mike is so inspiring, motivational, and GENUINE!!! His stories are amazing – I could listen to him all day! It was truly a hit with our audience. Please thank Mike on behalf of the entire team. I hope we get to work together on another event in the future."

-Boston-based Retirement Services organization

"“I had the pleasure of hiring Mike to be our closing guest speaker at our annual user summit in Houston. In my role over the years, I have hired countless speakers to close out large user events and I will say that Mike is one of the best that I have ever hired. Not only is he a down to earth person and easy to talk with, but the message he delivers relates to everyone. Normally when you hire an external speaker to close out an event, there is usually a good size drop-off of people who are trying to catch a flight out of town. Not in our case. I looked around the room when Mike started and it was close to being as crowded as day 1 of the event (roughly 1300 people). Also, afterwards, Mike signed his books for attendees and we estimate that 500+ were in line to get a book signed. I would HIGHLY recommend Mike to anyone who needs a closing guest speaker.”"

-Acumatica

""We have gotten an incredible amount of positive feedback about your talk, and to say you ‘delivered’ would be a complete understatement. Thank you for helping to inspire my team to be at their best with this amazing advancement for myeloma patients...for helping Janssen Oncology to DREAM BIG and GO FAR.""

-Janssen Oncology

""We can’t thank you enough for your inspiring kick off presentation. You set just the right tone for our meeting and inspired our guests to create innovative approaches to solving some of our thorniest business issues. The meeting was a rousing success and you played a big part teeing it up.""

-Zurich North America

"Mike was really great to work with and just some amazing stories and we’re bummed our clients couldn’t meet him in person, but we think this is the next best thing. Sort of like him talking to us from space. Many of his stories are very topical to what we are all going through right now including the quarantine astronauts go through before going into space and the isolation even in space being disconnected from the world. The story of teamwork with his fellow astronaut classmates was especially powerful for me—this idea that we win or lose together. A great reminder that we’re all in this together right now. And I enjoyed his story about needing to both accept change and anticipate change in the same moment. You have 30 seconds of venting, ranting, or feeling sorry for yourself—and then you move forward. Because the only constant is change. Really powerful! Please thank him for us."

-Personify Inc.

"Your inspiration, passion and down-to-earth style was nothing short of spectacular."

-Commonwealth/McCann

"Mike was great. He did a fantastic job of engaging the audience with his stories and down-to-earch style (pardon the pun). He hit the mark on our key messages, but didn't beat people over the head with them. He integrated them seamlessly into his stories. I also appreciated that he hung around and chatted with a number of our colleagues after his remarks - even if it did nearly cause him to miss his flight. All told, he was a hit."

-CVS Caremark

"Mike Massimino was a great hit at our annual employee kickoff. Mike did an amazing job getting a full understanding of our company, and incorporating it in his speech. He captured the entire audience from begin to end, and he was just a perfect fit for the event."

-Imprivata

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Michael Massimino on Recognizing the Purpose in Your Work - Get Sharable Link

Michael Massimino on Recognizing the Purpose in Your Work

Play
Now

Michael Massimino: Persistence when Pursuing a Goal

Keynote clip - Accepting and embracing change [2:57]

Michael Massimino on Teamwork & Leadership

Moonbase 8 cast are doing a service to the country

Michael Massimino: How Spacewalking Changed How I Looked at Life | The Moth

Spaceflight | TEDxColumbiaEngineering

Mike Massimino Media Highlights

No one ever thought to ask "Do you know how to swim?" | The Moth

Talks & Conversations with Michael Massimino

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Mike never gives the same talk twice, and enjoys working with each client to craft a talk that will include stories that will hit the mark for their event. Here are a few examples:

Be Ready for the Future - Change is Inevitable, Accept and Embrace It

Companies go through reorganizations and changes to grow their business and prepare for future opportunities in the changing marketplace. Often these transformations are met with resistance by team members who are happy with the way things are, but leadership needs to clearly communicate the benefits of these changes to gain buy-in. Mike relates changes in the space program to changes in today’s business world. During his career, NASA pivoted from working independently to embarking on global partnerships with the space faring countries of the world including Russia, and commercial partnerships with private space companies. Leadership made it clear that although many would be uncomfortable with these changes, they were needed to secure the future of space exploration, improve international relations, and stimulate a new space economy. Mike encourages audiences that although they may have an initial reluctance to accept change, they should embrace it as an opportunity for future greatness and success.

Being Resilient and Adaptable in Challenging Times

When you think all hope is Lost, Find Another Way Around Sometimes forces out of our control can make moving forward difficult. In spite of our best efforts we often get knocked down repeatedly. But we need to find a way around that next obstacle. Mike encourages audiences: When the odds are against ...

When you think all hope is Lost, Find Another Way Around

Sometimes forces out of our control can make moving forward difficult. In spite of our best efforts we often get knocked down repeatedly. But we need to find a way around that next obstacle. Mike encourages audiences: When the odds are against you, do it anyway. Mike’s dream of becoming an astronaut began when he was six years old watching Neil Armstrong take the first steps on the moon. The path to achieving this dream was wrought with unexpected challenges, failures, disappointments, and self-doubt. Mike was rejected three times by NASA including a medical disqualification which Mike overcame by teaching his eyes and brain to “see better.” His persistence paid off when he was selected to be an astronaut on his fourth try. This same resilience was needed after earning his astronaut wings to persevere through the setbacks, tragedies, and technical challenges that Mike experienced in his astronaut career. Mike stresses that as long as you keep trying, no matter the obstacles, achieving a goal is possible.

The Team’s Success is Your Success

You Cannot do this Alone, You will Succeed or Fail as a Team An organization’s goals are only obtainable if everyone on the team works together. Individual accomplishments are needed, but the success of the team is most important. In our complex world, not everyone can be good at everything. But by ...

You Cannot do this Alone, You will Succeed or Fail as a Team

An organization’s goals are only obtainable if everyone on the team works together. Individual accomplishments are needed, but the success of the team is most important. In our complex world, not everyone can be good at everything. But by pooling our abilities, we can be good at everything as a team. Mike conveys how he and his colleagues worked together with a culture of admitting mistakes and bringing forward concerns without worry of embarrassment or finger pointing. Providing help to teammates was not considered to be a burden, but rather a way to make the team stronger. When Mike broke a critical piece of equipment while repairing the Hubble Space Telescope during his final spacewalk, his team was there to help. Rather than blaming Mike, the ground control team and the astronauts in space worked together with him to come up with an innovative solution that saved the day and the mission. Although not every problem has an obvious solution, teamwork can help us with overcoming unforeseen challenges. Mike communicates to audiences how the NASA models for teamwork and leadership can be applied to the business world and in life. When you need help, reach out to your own “Mission Control Center,” and be “Mission Control” for others.

Gaining that Competitive Edge - Accepting AI and New Technology in the Workplace

AI and new technology is all around us. It can be intimidating. But it can also provide opportunities for growth and improve our decision making. The Space Shuttle was a manually controlled spacecraft. Very little computing power was available and astronauts and flight controllers were responsible for operations and decision making during high stakes situations. In today’s spaceships, AI performs many of the decision making tasks previously done by astronauts. But the path getting there was not easy as astronauts were accustomed to being in total control of their spacecraft. The road to acceptance was through demonstrated benefits such as increased safety, improved performance, and reduced training time. Mike encourages audiences to embrace new technologies and AI to give them the competitive edge they need in meeting the challenges of a dynamic and uncertain world.

Innovating for an Uncharted Future

Make your Workplace a Laboratory where Everyone has a Voice In the challenging world in which we live and work, the problems we face are complex. Growing our businesses in an uncharted future requires innovation. Mike found that innovation at NASA came through diversity of thought, and everyone havi ...

Make your Workplace a Laboratory where Everyone has a Voice

In the challenging world in which we live and work, the problems we face are complex. Growing our businesses in an uncharted future requires innovation. Mike found that innovation at NASA came through diversity of thought, and everyone having a voice. If everyone thought the same way we would have never landed on the moon. To prepare for their spacewalks, Mike and his team trained in the largest pool in the world - The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. At first Mike was confused as to why the facility was called a “laboratory.” A more appropriate name seemed to be “really big pool.” But after time, Mike realized that it was a laboratory - a place where innovative ideas would be put forward and tested. During a training session, if the team could figure out a way to save even one minute of spacewalking time it would be a significant accomplishment. And everyone had a voice, including the new people. Not all ideas were good, but leadership never crushed those ideas. They responded with “thank you” and “keep bringing ideas forward.” Because once you crush an idea, the person is likely to stay silent in the future, and the team will not get the useful idea when it eventually comes. Mike is clear: innovation is only possible when a diverse group of people exchange ideas and everyone has a voice. Mike shares examples of how this approach worked when he was a rookie, and when he was the leader of a team trying to uncover innovative ways to meet current and future challenges in space.

An Astronaut’s View of Planet Earth

The orbit of the Hubble Space Telescope is 350 miles above the Earth, 100 miles higher than the International Space Station. From that altitude, astronauts are able to see the curvature of our planet, and spacewalking astronauts are able to take in the magnificent views through their helmet visors with a 360 degree view of our planet and the surrounding universe. Mike describes his observations and feelings while viewing our planet, including its fragility and the importance of taking care of it.

Speaker News

Michael Massimino in the News

NASA Astronaut, New York Times Bestseller, and Columbia University professor MICHAEL MASSIMINO uses humor and his unique storytelling ability to inspire audiences to identify the passion in their work, use teamwork and innovation to solve problems, provide leadership in the face of adversity and crisis, and never give up when pursuing a goal.

Here’s what he has been up to here on Earth:

08.25.2025 In New Images of Mars, The Red Planet Goes Blue | Anderson Cooper 360, CNN

08.08.2025 Jim Lovell's Heroic Apollo 13 Legacy Remembered | The Arena with Kasie Hunt, CNN

01.12.2024 Tales of Life and Leadership From NASA | Good Morning America

12.14.2023 Mike Massimino - Moonshot & Adventures in Space | The Daily Show

11.22.2021 Featured Segment in 'Worn Stories' | Netflix