John's Space Shuttle Collection

The United States Space Shuttle

The United States Space Shuttle program retired in 2011 after more than 30 years of service taking humans and machines into space.  Without the Space Shuttle program we would not have many of the modern conveniences we now take for granted.  Along the way the shuttles proved invaluable to the construction of the ISS (International Space Station) a man made wonder in itself.

Between 1996 and 2011 I was extremely fortunate to have had the up close experience of photographing 5 Space Shuttle launches from the press site at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida.  To be less than 3 miles away from a live shuttle launch brings out all the raw emotions of the human senses from the visual to the unbelievable magnificence.

My five launches all happened to be the Space Shuttle Altantis.

The following photographs are a collection of my launch experiences including STS-135 the last launch of the Space Shuttle program and ending with the Space Shuttle Endeavour rolling thru the streets of Los Angeles to its final resting place at the Los Angeles Air & Science Museum.  The end of an landmark era in humankinds reaching for the stars was closed.

Space Shuttle Atlantis on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center

Follow this link to see John's Space Shuttle Collection