Cooper Snapp – NESC Academy Biography

Cooper Snapp graduated from the University of Kansas in 2000.  He began work as a thermal protection system engineer at Kennedy Space Center with Boeing shortly after graduation.  In 2004, after the Columbia accident, Cooper moved to NASA Johnson Space Center, continuing work on the Orbiter thermal protection system.  In 2007, Cooper became the NASA Subsystem Engineer for the Orbiter Thermal Protection System and continued that role until the end of the Shuttle Program.  Cooper is currently working as the Thermal Protection System Manager for the Commercial Crew Program, supporting the design and development of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and the SpaceX Dragon vehicles to eventually transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.  He has a combined experience of 15 years in thermal protection systems as a contractor and civil servant.