For the final few years of the Space Shuttle program, he photographed for NASA and held a position on NASA's photo and engineering imaging team at the Kennedy Space Center & Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Work included mission-critical imagery of the shuttle's exterior and orbiter tiles that ensured a safe mission of the space shuttle on every flight, as well as public affairs imagery for distribution by NASA and dozens of portraits and award ceremonies.
He specializes in aerospace, travel, science and astronomy imaging, with experience on six continents including Antarctica. With over 20 years of experience in the field of photography, he is also an alumnus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and minor in space studies/space history.
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His work and major clients have included:
-NASA
-The New York Times
-USA Today (front page)
-The Boston Globe (incl cover & story)
-Getty Images
-Corbis
-United Launch Alliance
-SpaceX
-Orbital Sciences
-AP
-AFP
-UPI
-Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine
-Astronomy Magazine
-Sky & Telescope magazine
-Discover magazine
-The FAA
-National Geographic online
-MSNBC / NBCnews.com
-FoxNews.com
-Yahoo! News
-Superstock
-Pacific Standard Magazine
-SPACE.com
-Astronomy.com
-SpaceflightNow.com
-collectSPACE.com
-Astronomy Now
-Scholastic & Weekly Reader
& countless more publications
-15-time NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)
-NASA.gov homepage images
-NASA Image of the Day
-Diplays at countless NASA award ceremonies and center exhibits
-Yahoo! News: The "Week in Photos"
-The World at Night (TWAN) collection
-Time Magazine Photo of the Day (August 24, 2009)
-SpaceWeather.com
...and many more honors
He is twice winner (2008, 2010) of and has placed four years in a row (2008-2011) in the category of space for the prestigious Aviation Week & Space Technology photo contest, the world's largest aerospace photo challenge. In addition to the first-place wins, he also took third place in 2008, an honorable mention in 2009, and won both second & third place in 2011.
While in college, he was a long-standing member of The Avion, the campus newspaper of Embry-Riddle for which he was Space Technology Editor for three years, reporter for four, and received the Fall 2007 reporter award.
In June, 2011, Cooper and LaunchPhotography.com were featured on the front page of USA Today, the most circulated paper in the United States. Interviewed for a cover story on attending the final space shuttle launch, the website was published prominently.
Similarly, he was also interviewed by, and this website was published in, the New York Times Travel section in May 2010 for a story on viewing the remaining shuttle launches.
His work has also been featured in books such as Astronomy 365 and City at the Water's Edge: A Natural History of New York, among others available in bookstores now.
Popular Photography magazine has featured Cooper four times. He was profiled in a story for their September 2006 issue, again for the Backstory feature in December 2009, a third time on their website in March 2010, and a fourth for a 'Fix It Fast' feature in the magazine in January, 2011.
National Geographic has used several photos on their website for news stories. They also selected this photo as a Your Shot finalist in October 2007, the top photo here in July 2009, the first here in June 2011 and this shot in September 2011.
And in June, 2008, an image shot of the STS-124 launch became a helpful part of a NASA inquiry into major damage sustained by one of the space shuttle's launch pads.
He was the featured guest on the second ever of Adorama's TechTock Podcast and also on The Shutterbug Magazine Radio Show .
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If you see a photo you like on this website and are interested in it, or for general questions, feel free to contact the photographer.
Thank you for visiting,
Ben Cooper
Launch Photography.com
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