Master launch photographer Ben Cooper captures readers’ favorite subjects in a new light. Rather than presenting the standard rocket lifting off the launch pad images, he provides fresh perspectives. In addition to providing text about manned and unmanned crafts that will pique the interest of shuttle enthusiasts and newcomers alike, he shares wide-angle captures, night photographs, images shot from seldom-seen angles, and more. Readers will marvel over detailed photos of the shuttle before and after retirement, and juxtaposed with nature (Cape Canaveral’s launch pages are surrounded by a national wildlife refuge), behind-the-scenes shots, images of the crafts rolling to the pad, and launching and landing too. Photographs of unmanned rockets, such as United Launch Alliance Delta II, Delta IV, and Atlas V rockets, which have been launching for a long time, plus the new era SpaceX, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy rockets, will please readers young and old. AUTHOR: In 2003, looking to pursue a career in the space program, Ben Cooper attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL, and earned a degree in aerospace engineering in 2008. During his time there, he photographed launches. By his graduation, he had a broad portfolio in photography and offers to apply for a NASA photographer position. He was privileged to photograph the remaining space shuttle launches and their mission preparations for NASA from 2008-2011, when the aging vehicles were retired. Much of this work was critical to the lives of the astronauts onboard, as NASA implemented broad documentation requirements for photography on the ground and in space during a mission following the Columbia accident in 2003. During the same period, new companies were being established and conducting their first launches in an era some have dubbed New Space. Ben was quickly asked to capture the first flights of this new era. 150 colour photographs
