About Me

Hi, I'm Robert

I'm a freelance photographer and media producer with over 25 years of experience in photography and video. People around NASA call me RocketMan Robert. I live near Cape Canaveral on Florida's Space Coast, and I photograph rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Depending on which pad a rocket is using, I set up my cameras at different spots around the Cape.

My goal is simple: I want to inspire the next generation of space explorers. Decades ago I watched the early rocket launches on TV, and they sparked an interest in space that has stayed with me my whole life. I hope my photos, and the stories that go with them, can do the same for someone else.

By 2026 my setup had grown to a whole row of cameras and long lenses on tripods, pictured below lined up in front of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building.

How It Started

I got hooked on the universe at age 15, wanting to see deeper and more clearly into the wonders of creation and to capture a little of it. I grew up during the Apollo missions to the Moon, and the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey sent my imagination soaring.

That interest became my career. I earned my degree as an aerospace engineer, with studies in supersonic flight, rocket engine propulsion and turbomachinery. Personal computers and microprocessors were just taking off at the time, and I got swept up in that too, so I went on to develop software.

An Encyclopedia of the Moon

The Moon has always fascinated me, and I wanted to share it. So I wrote an Encyclopedia of the Moon software, sold through my company, AstroHawk, as Lunar Discoverer, a photographic lunar atlas and encyclopedia for Windows and Mac. It was designed for amateur astronomers and as an educational resource, with text written to be accessible to middle school students.

Here's some of what went into it:

• More than 4,500 named lunar features, which you could identify with a simple mouse click
• Thousands of high-resolution close-up photos of the Moon's surface
• More than 250,000 words about the Moon and what to see on it (over 1,000 pages' worth)
• Views that match how the Moon looks in your own telescope or binoculars, in any orientation
• A night-by-night observing guide, a beginner's introduction to astronomy and an observer's log
• Spoken pronunciations of lunar feature names (also sold separately as Lunar Pronouncer)

The software was reviewed in Sky & Telescope (May 2010). Over the years it was sold at the NASA Visitor Center, to high schools and other educational institutions, and at an observatory on Maui. It's no longer for sale.

Telescopes and the Night Sky

I'm also an amateur astronomer and a big believer in building your own telescopes. That led me into amateur optics: I've made, or helped others make, more than three dozen telescope mirrors, up to 24 inches across. Although I have taken many photos of galaxies and nebula ("deep space"), I focused on planetary work, chasing high-resolution images and every bit of detail I can pull out of them.

Why Rocket Launches

All of that leads to rocket launches. My engineering studies covered the very things that make a launch work: rocket propulsion, turbomachinery and supersonic flight. Years of photography and astronomy taught me how to capture what I see in the sky. Living near the Cape, I get to put the two together.

Every print in my shop comes with the story of its mission: what the rocket was carrying, why it mattered, and what it was like to be there. It's the same idea behind my Moon software. A great picture should make you want to learn more.

See More of My Work

• Rocket launch prints: Order Prints
• Launch galleries, with photos, videos and mission notes for each launch: More of my Photos
• Astrophotography: Astrophotography Website
• Wildlife photography: God's Creation Website
• Underwater photography: Underwater Photography of the Seas Website

Get in Touch

Email me at Robert.Duvall@RocketmanRobert.com or call +1 321‑408‑8422. I'm happy to talk about prints, digital copies or rocket launch photography.