NASA Artist, Mike Sanni

Mike Sanni is a self-taught painter, graphic designer, photographer, and copy writer. While at the “Pennsylvania State University,” he majored in Astronomy with the hope of becoming involved in the U.S. space program. After five years of ad agency experience in the New York and New Jersey areas, he established his own illustration and design studio there while continuing to dream of working for NASA.

After ten years, Mr. Sanni relocated to Houston, Texas, where he entered the aerospace industry at Johnson Space Center. He supported many NASA projects as a staff artist with General Electric Government Services; Martin Marietta; Lockheed Martin; and Lockheed Aerospace. Mr. Sanni’s international award-winning work for NASA ranged from technical illustrations of space shuttle and space station, to mission catalogs, emblems, and paintings. He worked closely with astronaut crews designing their official NASA crew and with NASA Mission Managers to design mission emblems.

During this time, he also produced oil paintings and illustrations of deep space objects, shuttle hardware, and NASA spacecraft. The Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, hosted a one-man art exhibit for which his oil painting, “Chocolate Moon” was the centerpiece. He was officially selected for the “NASA National Artist Program” and subsequently received NASA’s highest tribute to industry professionals, the “Manned Flight Awareness Award” (now the “Space Flight Awareness Award”) for his creative and graphic support of NASA’s Life Sciences and other Divisions.

During a speaking engagement for the 25th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing at “Kennedy Space Center” in 1994, he presented an original oil painting of President John F. Kennedy to the center. Additionally, he has received a variety of awards from the “Society for Technical Communications” (STC) for a Space Shuttle Project cover illustration, and took another award in the STC International Competition. The following year, he was presented with three more STC awards including an “Award of Excellence” for work in NASA’s Spacelab/ Shuttle Project and Spacelab/ Mir Project.

Mr. Sanni left the aerospace industry due to an illness in the family and returned to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Upon relocation, he became an Adjunct Instructor of Graphic Design and Illustration at the “Bradley Academy for the Visual Arts” in York, Pennsylvania. After teaching, he established and operated a marketing and advertising studio for twenty years called, “i.n.k.” (intelligent noise kommunications). Now retired, Mr. Sanni continues to maintain an intense interest in the study of Cosmology, Particle Physics, and the international space exploration effort.

This current series of paintings entitled, “LQG and the Planets,” was the result of 2 years of work and will be followed by a proposed exhibit in September of 2027, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the space probes, “Voyager 1 and 2.”