Mark Canepa
Mark Canepa is a member of the Tripoli Rocketry Association and the National Association of Rocketry and he has been involved with high-power rocketry for more than 13 years. He is the author of two books on high-power rockets: Modern High-Power Rocketry, published in 2002, and Modern High-Power Rocketry 2, released in 2005. Both books deal with most of the basic aspects of high-power rocketry in the United States and the necessary steps to certification in high power with both Tripoli and NAR. Mark is a Level Three certified flyer with both organizations. In addition to building and launching his own high-power rockets, Mark is a frequent contributor of high-power rocketry-related articles and photographs to Rockets Magazine, Extreme Rocketry Magazine and Sport Rocketry Magazine. His photographs of high-power rockets have appeared on the cover of all three publications. He has covered rocket launches throughout the United States, and even in Europe, reporting on events such as The Florida Winter Nationals, Red Glare, Rocstock, Southern Thunder and many more. He has also covered LDRS—the largest, annual high-power rocket launch in the world, lasting for six days—for both Extreme Rocketry and Rockets Magazine. In April, 2009, Mark was one of the motor sponsors of the Steve Eves one-tenth scale Saturn V launch—the largest model rocket ever flown—near Price, Maryland. Mark’s articles on the construction and flight of that rocket appeared as lead stories in Rockets Magazine and also on Rocketry Planet, the largest high-power rocketry web portal in the world. In his professional life, Mark is an attorney. He received his undergraduate degrees in History and Journalism from San Francisco State University in 1985 and 1986, and his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, in 1988. He is licensed to practice in California, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Carolina. He is a partner with the law firm of Weiss Martin Salinas & Hearst in Fresno, California, where he represents physicians and other health care providers in expert-driven, medical malpractice cases throughout Central California. Mark is also a frequent contributor to legal periodicals and his law-related stories have appeared in legal magazines throughout California and North Carolina.