By Anne McGrath
Herald Intern
Astrophotographers fanned out across Cape Canaveral on April 1st, ready to connect with each other and capture the Artemis II rocket launch.
In the mix of crowds who traveled from near and far, UCF student photographers and hobbyist astrophotographers shared the moment as the first mission to the moon in over 50 years lifted off.
Benjamin Bair, UCF alumni and NASA Artemis program engineer, grew up along the space coast witnessing Florida’s launch programs throughout his childhood and during his time in college.
After graduating in 2019, Bair secured both a career as a COMET Lead Engineer for NASA and became a space photographer for Artemis by the Kennedy Space Center.
Bair attended the Artemis II launch to capture up-close visuals of the spacecraft from the East Causeway viewing site on the Banana River. Upon arrival at the viewing site at 3 p.m., he set up his gear and waited for the countdown hours later.
“It’s the most important launch of our lifetimes,” Bair said. "A lot of people are from out of state or the country and they've never seen a launch. I don’t know how many I’ve seen; I go back to when I was born and I can tell you it’s easier for me to say which launches I haven’t seen.”
Meanwhile, back at the Max Brewer Bridge, a popular rocket launch viewing site for the public within Titusville, a large plethora of hobbyist photographers gather as early as 7 a.m. to secure spots for their tripods and gear.
Daren Lee, a Colorado-based space photographer and FPGA engineer, traveled almost 2,000 miles to capture the Artemis II launch. He works full time as a weather satellite engineer for ‘Weather Stream’ and is an aspiring storm chaser.
Lee relates capturing space photography to storm chasing and describes his adventures across the U.S as a form of “rocket-chasing”.
“One thing people do is something called a ‘chase-cation’,” Lee said. “People will look at the forecast for the weather and literally book two weeks off to chase a storm.”
Lee started photographing Spacex launches, such as the reusable Falcon 9 cargo rockets, back in 2021 and travels to Texas twice a year to photograph launches when his schedule allows him to work remotely.
In addition to videoing and capturing the Artemis II launch, Lee kept the media side of the bridge updated regarding broadcast efforts via his re-broadcasted radio. He was leading the T-minus countdown prefacing lift-off when the NASA livestream buffered for those watching along the bridge.
Among Lee and others on the bridge, there is astrophotographer Joseph Brown, a Daytona Beach, FL native and full-time correctional officer for Volusia County.
Brown pursues astrophotography as a side hobby and had always dreamt of becoming an astronaut or pilot when he was a kid.
To him, the Artemis II mission is a chance for the space program to start anew after the Challenger tragically exploded in 1986 while he was in elementary school.
“I was out on the PE field watching [Challenger] with a group of kids, and it was heart wrenching,” Brown said. “I remember drawing the space shuttle and hanging it above my bed in my bedroom.”
Mark Farrall, a hobbyist astrophotographer and retired stock market system architect, drove from Cocoa beach to the bridge to use his new telelens camera to capture the rocket.
Traditionally, Farrall is a film photographer and started investing in digital cameras to be able to photograph rocket launches in his downtime.
Farrall typically photographs interesting insects such as beetles and spiders, and he describes that anything he captures is the unique discovery of something different to him.
“They’re like aliens,” Farrall said. “I chased a spider over at Kennedy Space Center a while ago along a concrete ledge and I swear he was looking right back at me waiting for the picture.”
A few UCF student photographers, one being Emanuel St. Aubin, drove to Cocoa Beach just off the highway in the early afternoon to capture photos and videos of the historic launch.
St. Aubin, junior digital media major, is an aspiring astrophotographer looking to build his camera equipment inventory to professionally take images of space. Artemis II is St. Aubin’s first launch that he has had the opportunity to witness firsthand.
“I’m trying to figure out how I can get some equipment to start doing more astrophotography,” St. Aubin said. “Especially with the capturing of stars and space, it’s all kind of expensive.”
