(bright music) - Every day, students walk through the doors of the Captain Albert Stevens School here in Belfast, Maine, ready to embrace our CASS Cares Pledge and face challenges just like Captain Albert Stevens did.

Here at the Captain Albert Stevens School, we have fun and learn new things while encompassing the CASS Cares motto.

But many of you might wonder, who is Captain Albert Stevens anyway?

10 years before the first rocket went into space, Captain Albert Stevens nearly reached the edge of the atmosphere at a height of over 72,000 feet.

That's taller than two Mount Everests.

And he set an altitude record in Explorer II that lasted nearly 20 years.

While he was on this adventure, he took a photograph of the curvature of the earth.

As we celebrate the 90th anniversary of Captain Albert Stevens' high altitude ride in Explorer II and our school's 20th anniversary, we remember achievements of our school's namesake and reflect on how our school and community have grown and improved.

(soft music) Our school's motto is called CASS Cares.

This motto reminds us to embody important traits just like Captain Albert Stevens did.

We embrace challenges by showing perseverance and striving to reach our full potential.

We communicate and contribute like Captain Albert by asking questions and sharing our ideas.

Hi, I'm Oona, and this is Gus, Edith, Goose, and Reed.

Welcome to our documentary about Captain Albert W. Stevens.

(dramatic music) (machine clicking) - So, who is Captain Albert Stevens anyway?

- Cool, though, that you're related to someone who did all this.

- Yes.

It's amazing, isn't it?

Yeah.

- [Edith] Albert W. Whitten was born on March 13th, 1886, in Belfast, Maine to Alice and Nathan Whitten.

- He was a child who was adopted at five months old.

His mother died.

and his mother and his adoptive mother were good friends, is what I understand.

And they promised each other that if something happened to one or the other, then they would take the children.

They ended up just taking the baby because Nathan, Captain Albert's father, had two other children that he continued to raise.

His biological brother Ralph, he knew each other, but he was raised by the Stevens family.

- I'm Edith, and I'm here at the South Belfast Cemetery, also known as the Woods Road Cemetery.

Growing up, Albert faced many challenges like the early death of his parents.

Right now we're at the cemetery where Albert's biological parents, Alice and Nate and Whitten, are buried.

His sister, Maude Whitten, is also buried here.

Albert's mother, Alice Whitten, died at age 27 from tuberculosis when Albert was only five months old.

Maude was only a little girl, about 13 months, when she died, probably also from tuberculosis.

Albert's father, Nathan Whitten, died at age 68 when Albert was 10 years old.

(soft music) - What was life like for Albert when he was a kid?

- [Megan] 1890s Belfast is quite wonderful.

It's getting very modern in Belfast.

You know, all of a sudden there's electricity.

There's telephones.

You know, there's still horses and wagons.

There's no automobiles yet.

But, you know, the city is on the move.

Maybe the days of shipbuilding are fading away and it's more the age of steam and the railroad, schools being built and more businesses coming into town.

So, I think it was actually rather exciting to be a kid, especially living right in the downtown area.

The waterfront was your playground.

- Do you know if he had any childhood pets?

- [Megan] We do put some photographs with Stevens with his father and a dog.

- We're here at Front Street where Captain Albert W. Stevens once lived.

Back in the day, there used to be more ocean than there was land.

Do you know the train tracks that are at the edge of the water?

Believe it or not, they used to be entirely suspended above the water.

- When Albert was just a boy, he lived at the edge of the sea, but he didn't live a very rich life.

That's because he lived in front of a giant landfill, which slowly piled up and became the solid ground where Front Street Shipyard is today.

- Hi, I'm Gus.

As an adult, Captain Albert Stevens was named Daredevil of the Skies.

In his biography, he wrote that the most dangerous thing he did was jumped off the Kilgore family barn.

He jumped off using an old rope swing tied to an apple tree, which is now the house that's behind us.

- [Megan] It's owned by the Kilgore family, Dr.

Kilgore.

This is the house, the first house on the right as you go up Primrose Hill.

- Where did Albert go to school when he was a kid?

- [Megan] Albert Stevens' school that he went to was just up the street on Bridge Street.

Now it's known as Anderson Street.

- My name is Edith.

And right now, I'm at the Crosby Center.

Back when he was young, Captain Albert W. Stevens went to school right here where the Crosby Center is.

Albert graduated in 1903.

That year, only 10 students graduated, including him.

Captain Alberts went to a school that was built in 1824.

Later, after his graduation, the school was rebuilt in 1923 into the Crosby Center we know today.

(upbeat music) - Why did you have to build Captain Albert Stevens School anyway?

- This building was planned.

I was on the school board and a member of the building committee.

- Who made the decision to name it after him?

- Yeah, it was a committee of people who were on the building committee.

And if I remember right, I think in your main foyer across from the office, there's a plaque.

And I think it has all the people's names on there from the building committee.

So, it was those people who helped make the decision.

- We are in the entry hall in the Captain Albert W. Stevens Elementary School, standing in front of the plaque dedicated to the people in the building committee.

Do you know why the school is named after Dr.

Stevens?

- My recollection is that it was Megan Pinette who suggested the name.

- That's where kind of my role was, you know, coming in and presenting to the school board and that committee at that time and presenting to them Captain Albert W. Stevens as a good name for the school.

- Megan Pinette came forward with Captain Albert Stevens' name.

Captain Albert Stevens was, you know, an important figure in our community.

And he did a lot of work.

His aerial pictures, he was like one of the first who was responsible for making these really cool aerial pictures.

- How hard was it to build a new school?

- At first, I think people were a little hesitant because we were gonna take the three small schools, Anderson, Pierce, and Robertson and combine them together.

And people really liked the small, small school feel.

And having a bigger school, they were afraid that we would lose that.

- So, you had to bring all these communities together to accept a larger school.

And that was hard for some of our members.

For children, our students, they came up here with smiles on their face.

Their brand new big school.

- [David] How could a big school like this serve the pools of children who are now going to come to it for their school?

And so we wanted to make it the best possible school we could.

- Why did you suggest the name Captain Albert W. Stevens School?

- We've called other schools in Belfast after prominent people.

Let's put forward Captain Albert Stevens.

I was also all of a sudden in touch with Stevens' niece, Bobby Whitten.

After she found out that, yes, we did know about her Uncle Bert,0 she sent us all this information.

So, all of a sudden we had a lot of information to back up that suggestion.

- So, there was the Governor Anderson School, which is now Waterfall Arts.

The Robertson School, which is now Waldo Cath, and Pierce School, which is now a private residence.

- So, I was teaching at Robertson when they were building CASS, Robertson just down over the hill there.

So, we saw it being built and were the very first group of teachers to begin teaching here.

- We're building the school.

I was at the Robertson School.

That was one of my schools as principal.

We could always hear the machines in the background getting ready.

I think it took two years.

I think it took them two years to get it ready.

- We knew there was only going to be one choice, that is one new school replacing three.

We looked with pride on the completion of this school, came to its grand opening.

We're very excited by what we saw here and continue to be very excited about the building of this place and the remembrance of the name Captain Albert Stevens.

- What Was our school like when it first opened?

- [Susan] It was beautiful.

And I'm sure it's still a beautiful school.

The two different entrances for drop off and pick up and buses.

The walking pass in the back.

I don't know if you guys still use the hill behind the school to go sledding.

We loved that.

There's so many beautiful parts.

- [Graduate 1] Close to nature and things like that.

Growing up in a small town in Maine.

- [Graduate 2] To be outside, to be learning outside.

And there were so many things you could do.

- When the school was first built, what was your favorite part of it?

- It was definitely the library.

I remember thinking how magical it was.

The playground was also very cool at the time when the school opened.

It was very new age and that was exciting.

- [Person] It was just such a welcoming place.

It's a beautiful school.

- What was it like teaching music at the brand new Captain Albert Stevens School?

- Oh, it was really exciting.

It was the highlight of my week.

- I really enjoyed my time at CASS School.

I remember being able to go out in the woods a lot, going on hikes in the woods, spending a lot of time out on the playground.

I remember a lot of my teachers.

We had really amazing teachers.

(soft music) (machine whirring) - Did he go to college?

- Well, he was at the University of Maine in Orono.

And he did take a Bachelor of Science in, I believe it was electrical engineering.

And then went on and just kept going.

And finally graduated in 1909 with also a master's of science in engineering, as well.

Actually, when he graduated from the University of Maine, this was always very nice, in one of the later yearbooks, class reunions, some of his classmates said that, yes, Steve's life was one of strenuous strenuosity.

You had to pass either a rigorous test or determined that, you know, you were college material.

- Did he get a job after school?

- [Megan] Stevens worked.

Even at UMO, he's working at running the steam plant.

He's making money.

And he's actually sending money back to his father, to Andrew.

They said, you know, even though he was a member of a fraternity, they never saw him because he was always working.

(soft music continues) - I am Goose.

Here we are at Grove Cemetery, the site of Albert's adoptive parents' graves.

His challenges continued as a young adult.

His adoptive mother died in 1904 when he was 18 years old while he was a college student at the University of Maine in Orono.

Albert's adopted dad passed away in 1911 when he was 25 years old.

- So, I like to tell people that here in Grove Cemetery, first of all, this black granite is Lincolnville Black Granite, quarried locally and cut here.

And Captain Stevens made all of the arrangements for this stone to be cut and to be placed here in Grove Cemetery, you know, with his adoptive parents listed on it.

He was very close with his brother, Ralph.

Ralph was a little bit older than he was.

Ralph got him the job out in gold mining out in Idaho the first time.

And then Ralph, just was Ralph, his wife, and the two children, they were his family, you know, at that point.

So, he was extremely close with all of them.

- Can you tell us about his job working for the gold mining company?

- At college, he helped run some hydroelectric plants.

That's where they put the water through a dam and generate the power.

And there was a company in Boston called the Boston and Idaho Gold Dredging Company.

And with his knowledge, they hired him to go out to Idaho and finish building a dam and a power plant to generate power for their big dredge in the basin while they were excavating for gold.

His first three years, he worked there in the Idaho area.

And then he went to Alaska for them in 1914, working up in Nome with a dredge up there.

He and another man dog sledded south out of Alaska.

What, the USA just joined World War I?

I have to go get the dogs to mush a thousand miles and enlist!

Albert Stevens felt that serving his country was very important.

He took his dog sled and mushed 1,000 miles so he could enlist in the Army.

(inspirational music) (bright music) - [Host] Can you share what you remember from the dedication ceremony to open to Captain Albert Stevens School?

- We had a lot of people making speeches that day.

It was a beautiful day.

Sunny day.

Lot of people wanting to come in and walk through our building.

- But I think so many, many people came.

I think all of the school board and building committee, many, many of the teachers who would work here and the community at large, we all came together to celebrate the opening of this beautiful place.

- What I remember about it was leaving the ceremony, walking out onto the grounds and seeing this enormous hot air balloon that was just so colorful and gorgeous and enormous.

And it was just this beautiful image in my mind and how special it was that that was included as part of the opening ceremony.

- [Susan] I loved the balloons.

The balloons, actually, to have the hot air balloons in our parking lot that day, that was really cool.

It was a lot of fun.

And the students were in session at that point.

- [Mrs.

Anderson] It was definitely the staff and students.

They were so cool.

They were so kind.

They made work and learning fun.

And I have a lot of fond memories of the students and staff at the school.

- And so we wanted to make it the best possible school we could.

And I think in retrospect, and now looking at the beautiful space we have here, we succeeded.

(heroic music) (machine whirring) - Why is he called a captain?

- When this country went to war in 1917, he sailed back to Seattle.

His first stop in Seattle was a recruiting station saying, "I want to join this man's army."

They said, "We want to make you an airplane pilot."

Unfortunately, he was not coordinated enough to learn how to fly.

So, he washed out of flying school.

But sometime during that process, he did say, "Oh, by the way, I'm a very good photographer."

Which he was.

He took that up in college, and was a very good photographer.

So, they sent him to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, to the Aerial Photography School.

And so, right away they knew they had someone very special.

- What was his job in the military?

- [Megan] The 88th Squadron Photographic Unit.

He was in charge of aerial and ground photography.

That really was his job.

- [Charles] Stevens was put in charge of what they called a photographic section, but he didn't like what he saw coming in by the photographers.

They would go up to like 3,000 feet and take a picture looking straight down.

That doesn't give you much definition of what's on the ground.

So, he goes, "No, what we should be doing "is flying much lower and taking a camera "and shooting at an angle," called an oblique angle, which will give you more information.

And he took a machine gun mount in the back of a biplane and mounted his camera on there and said, "This is the way you need to do it."

And at that point, because of his position, he could go ahead and start just being the photographer also.

And he stayed there after the war and spent the first half of 1919 taking photographs of all of the aftermath of the war, all the destruction and everything.

(heroic music continues) And so he became very famous towards the end of World War I simply because of his skills as a photographer.

- Wow, that's amazing.

What else did he do when he was growing up?

- [Charles] He remained in the Air Service, as they called it, the Air Service at the time, as their chief photographer.

In 1922, and Stevens had already learned to parachute, he went up in a three-man bomber.

So, this was still open cockpit.

And at 24,200 feet, he jumped out of the airplane and pulled his parachute and he flew 20 some miles across country over the Ohio farmlands.

And when he landed, he set a world's record for a parachute jump.

- [Megan] He had the pilot, you know, all the way up to Orono.

Let's fly over my old hometown.

And so he did, and he took this nice series of I think six or seven aerial photographs showing Belfast in 1923.

Which you have enlargements right here in the school, you know, out in the, out in the entryway.

It was actually in November of 1923.

He was photographing over in New Hampshire.

He was photographing the White Mountains, aerial photography.

And he was getting on his way to the University of Maine for a class reunion.

And so he got his pilot, because the man really didn't like to drive anywhere.

He liked to fly more than anything else with a pilot.

(heroic music continues) - [Interviewer] What was his job as a National Geographic photographer and explorer?

- [Charles] You Know, that's a good question.

He discovered his photographs in the early 1920s and found them very wonderful and stuff they liked to put in their magazine at the time.

And so the first pictures that were shared with them that he took would've been around 1920, 1921.

Over the following years, he would go out on assignments with the military, but always collect photos that he knew he could share with the National Geographic.

Slowly over the years, he would be released for a while and go out on expeditions.

And when he went out on expeditions with the Society, they would actually pay him then for that.

So, that's the only time he actually worked for them, but most of the time he just worked with them.

- Well, as he continued being in the Army Air Force throughout most of his life, his position really was, it was a nice marriage between the Army Air Corps and the National Geographic Society.

So, he just kept going with his aerial photography and scientific explorations.

And he was their aerial photographer.

He wrote the articles for the National Geographic Magazine.

Plus they also helped sponsor some of those expeditions that he was on.

- [Charles] His either stories or photographs are in 22 issues at the magazine.

(heroic music continues) (energetic music) - [Oona] At Captain Albert Stevens School, we communicate and contribute by stepping out of our comfort zone and working to complete quality projects.

- [Students] Every member of the community at Captain Albert Stevens School communicates and contributes, accepts others with a kind smile, respects and responds, embraces challenges, and strives to be safe, friendly, honest, and peaceful.

- How do we communicate and contribute?

- [Student] We work together when we participate in STEAM projects.

- Communicate by starting new conversations.

- One thing that kinda stands out that I remember doing at CASS was writing a grant for a bunch of orph instruments.

Orph instruments are like xylophones and telephones, things like that.

And at the time, you know, in this brand new school, I was like, oh, this would be so cool if we could outfit it with a full classroom set of orph instruments.

So, I remember that kind of being an exciting part and starting a little orph ensemble before school.

(light music) - [Oona] We are often asked to contribute with team projects such as a newspaper club or building benches.

We also contribute by planning, planting, and caring for the garden.

- I contribute by staying on task.

- [Oona] Sometimes we do service-learning projects as a school.

We have helped with a silverware drive or composting our leftover food.

- I contribute by raising my hand in class.

- What is a contribution to the Captain Albert Steven School that you're most proud of?

- [Wendy] The garden and the trails, for sure.

So, in the beginning, you would be surprised how hard it was to find a site for the garden because this is a really big piece of land that the school sits on.

But a lot of it is too steep or too wet or paved.

- Did you have a favorite teacher at CASS?

- I think my favorite teacher when I was at CASS was Ms.

Krueger, because she had a lot of really cool projects and programs that we did.

- [Wendy] I'm happy to see how much the garden project has grown.

There wasn't a greenhouse.

We didn't have any of that.

We just had the garden.

- [Students] CASS cares!

(inspirational music) (machine whirring) - [Megan] He wrote at one time, you know, in general, he was never really afraid of any of these things that he was doing because he was really well prepared.

- [Interviewer] How did the idea of a high altitude balloon mission develop?

- [Charles] In the 1920s, Stevens was part of a effort to see how high airplanes could fly.

And they reached a record of about 49,000 feet, and they could not go any higher.

And so people said, "Well, if you want to go higher "to learn about the stratosphere and what's above, "the only thing we have are balloons."

- The stratosphere is a layer of air that begins about seven miles above the earth's surface.

It has no moisture in it.

It is a region entirely devoid of storms and clouds.

The temperature that we encounter will be about 70 degrees below zero.

- [Charles] In 1933, he said, "We need to be the ones "doing these high stratosphere flights.

The Air Corps says, "Fine.

"If you can raise the money, we'll support you."

And in 1933, he raised from individuals, from corporations, and finally from the National Geographic Society, he even put some of his own money into the effort to get a stratosphere balloon flight expedition put together.

And the Army said, "Fine, we'll support you."

- [Interviewer] What kind of training and preparation did they need for the mission?

- [Charles] There were three balloonists in the first flight, and two of them were actual balloon experts for the Army Air Corps, Major Kepner and Captain Anderson.

- [Cameraperson] Captain Albert W. Stevens, scientific observer, Major William E. Kepner, pilot, and Lieutenant Orvil A. Anderson, alternate pilot.

- Well, I hope to go 70,000 plus.

But when we get up to 70,000, when we get there, we'll think about the rest of it.

And we'll certainly play this shot safe.

- I think that we found a spot where we can make it successfully and give them a good takeoff.

- [Charles] Stevens was a scientist.

He's the one that helped get all the scientific equipment together, set up the cameras that would do the photographing.

(machine whirring) - Here is one of the 15 liter oxygen containers that will be used on the stratosphere flight for the purpose of renewing the air in the gondola.

Here is some liquid oxygen and the manner of filling the flask.

(metal clinking) - [Interviewer] What was Explorer I made out of?

- [Charles] The gondola was made from a special metal developed by the Dow Chemical Company called Dow Metal.

Dow Metal was made from brine, from deep wells, and it was much, much lighter than aluminum, but much stronger than aluminum.

In fact, it was so strong, the gondola skin was only 3/16 of an inch thick, but it was able to support a lot of weight.

- This is the gondola with which we propose to make an ascension into the stratosphere.

- They just had to really understand what their responsibility was inside the gondola while it was ascending to great heights.

- This side of the gondola is shown here with the shelves and the gondola to a scale of 1/5.

Here is an oxygen bottle, which actually is this size in full scale.

Everything has been prepared on a scale of one to five.

And here we have the skylight spectrograph, the horizon spectrograph, the large cosmic gray electroscope holding 600 pounds of shot.

- [Charles] So, they'd have to manage the scientific equipments.

One would be in charge of ballast.

And so, they did one or two mock-ups.

- Very light, and weighs 450 pounds.

It was eight feet, four inches in diameter.

- [Charles] They actually locked themselves in the gondola on the ground, and sealed it up tight, started creating artificial air and would make sure that everything was okay.

And that was about all they did in preparation.

- [Oona] The flight of Explorer I was a huge event.

It was about as big as the moon landing was in 1969.

There were reporters from all over the world at the Stratobowl launch site in South Dakota, one of which was NBC News.

Tracking planes followed and filmed the flight of the balloon.

Stevens even reported a live broadcast from inside the gondola as it ascended to the stratosphere.

One of the most amazing parts about the whole ordeal is that Amelia Earhart actually came to the site of Explorer I. She even climbed into the gondola to see what it was like.

- [Reporter] Captain Stevens and Major Kepner, daring Army Eagles, prepare for the world's highest flight into the stratosphere.

The captain, who will be the observer, stows into the eight-foot gondola scientific apparatus that they expect to carry 15 miles up.

Instruments to record the mysterious cosmic rays, air testers, and special cameras are included.

All this will be hoisted by the largest balloon ever built.

1500 cylinders of hydrogen gas are needed for the balloon's capacity of three million cubic feet.

- [Oona] At 2:10 PM on Friday, July 27th, 1934, Major William Kepner gave the order to begin filling the balloon with hydrogen gas because the weather looked good for the launch.

It took all night to inflate the balloon and attach the gondola.

At 5:45 a.m.

on July 28th, the gondola began to ascend out of the Stratobowl launch site.

They had to drop ballast weight to get up past the cliff base because there was wind at 400 feet.

By 6:15 a.m., they had reached 14,500 feet, but their ascent was slow, only rising about 1000 feet per hour.

By 11:00, their altitude was 40,500 feet.

They traveled up to 60,613 feet.

That's 11 miles up in the stratosphere when the disaster struck.

(dramatic music) The hydrogen balloon just exploded.

It's on fire.

We're going down!

- [Both] Oh no!

- We can't open the hatch because we're 60,000 feet up and the air pressure is too high.

(suspenseful music) - The altimeter is dropping.

We're at 7,000 feet.

We can jump now.

Open the hatch.

Hurry.

(kids shouting) - [Oona] All three men parachuted safely to the ground.

- Why did Explorer I crash?

- [Oona] When the gondola was still ascending, a tear started to form in the balloon.

Outside the gondola, at that height, the air pressure was so high that if they opened the hatch, they would implode.

That meant they had to wait until they were at a much lower height to open the hatch.

They also wanted to stay with the gondola and complete their mission for as long as possible.

At 7,000 feet, they opened the hatch to check the balloon.

Unfortunately, the balloon had almost fully torn around the edges.

It was only held on by a thin strip of the balloon and the ropes that support the gondola.

It could let go at any second.

The first to jump and parachute was Captain Anderson.

Major Kepner climbed on top of the gondola so he could check on the balloon.

Captain Stevens was still inside monitoring the altimeter to check their altitude and their descent.

- Why does it look like the guy's kicking him?

- [Oona] When Captain Stevens tried to get out, he got stuck halfway and needed help.

The air pressure was so high, it created a vacuum.

Luckily, Major Kepner was still outside the gondola.

He had to kick Captain Stevens to help him get free so he could parachute to safety.

All three men had just enough time to open their chutes and land safely on the ground.

At 3:40 p.m., the gondola smashed (gondola crashing) into the ground going at over 700 feet per minute.

This adventure had lasted about nine hours.

They crashed in a cornfield near Loomis, Nebraska.

The gondola was completely smashed, but luckily some of the scientific equipment was in good condition.

Once they landed by parachute, all three men set up a perimeter around the crash site.

After the crash, Captain Albert Stevens used an ax and smashed the gondola to get some of the equipment out.

Many people gathered around to see what had happened, and people even stole pieces of the smashed gondola and ripped balloon for souvenirs.

Workers tried to save as much as they could from the crash site.

Major Kepner had released the spectrograph separately with its own parachute.

The wreckage and equipment was loaded onto trucks and taken to National Geographic's headquarters in Washington DC, where scientists checked the data they had collected on the doomed flight.

(dramatic music) - We decided the time had come when we had to make up our mind to either jump or stay with the balloon.

And at that time, they noticed the Alameda reading, which was then 5,000 feet above sea level, and decided we had better jump.

So, Anderson and Kepner, who were on the outside, apparently used their own judgment and jumped right away.

And I suppose that there was a less than two or three seconds difference between the jumping of all three men.

We hope to make the flight over again on some future date.

- [Oona] At Captain Albert Stevens' School, we embrace challenges by solving problems, trying new things, staying focused, and working together to solve conflicts.

- How do we embrace challenges?

- So, fifth graders always built benches.

(bright music) All the fifth graders.

- We just did that.

- Look at you.

Awesome.

- [Oona] We stay focused by working really hard on a test or project to create a quality product.

- I embrace challenges by being a team leader and always raising my hand during trainings and being willing to jump in.

(bright music continues) - [Oona] One way we solve complex problems is to participate in math and chess competitions.

- I embrace challenges by making sure that my students get what they need every day to be successful.

- [Oona] We try new things like creating a documentary or gathering data from a science experiment.

- I embrace challenges by serving 175 lunches a day with the help of my coworker, Marnae.

- [Oona] We work together to solve conflicts by taking responsibility for our actions and talking it out together.

- [Graduate] All of the hands-on things, especially the things outside, mostly, were the things that were the most exciting to me.

- You know, I would say my experiences at CASS growing up and being close to the muck, being close to the woods, going out and playing in the fields, I think all of that led into me wanting to live somewhere close to nature when I grew up.

At the time, we also had a therapy dog in the school called Tika.

So, I remember Tika.

But yeah, just all in all, I remember it being a good experience.

(dramatic music) (machine whirring) - He went back into an air balloon after almost crashing?

- [Oona] In the spring of 1935, National Geographic and the Army Air Corps began preparation for another high altitude balloon assembly.

To prepare for Explorer II, hundreds of South Dakotans worked on the site and $19,000 were raised.

After Explorer I crashed, the funding for Explorer II was cut in half.

The portholes of Explorer II were also widened, so it'd be easier to get out of the gondola.

The flight was planned to occur in July, but there was a delay.

The balloon had ripped open while it was being inflated, which set the launch back.

- [Reporter] Here is the spot where the flight will soon start, and two of Uncle Sam's bravest will risk their lives in the cause of science.

Here is one of the oxygen flasks on which the lives of the two explorers depend when they can no longer breathe the outside air.

- [Charles] The most important science apparatus on the gondola at that time was a cosmic ray apparatus.

- Dr.

Swan, what is your field in this stratosphere investigation?

- Our particular object is to investigate certain of the cosmic rays.

The cosmic rays (echoing).

(futuristic music) The cosmic rays will reach the stratosphere from outside, but which are not sufficiently penetrating to strike through the atmosphere and reach the surface Of the earth.

- [Charles] The scientists at that time were fascinated in what cosmic rays were and how they could be captured.

So, there was a cosmic ray apparatus.

There was two different types of barometers, and they would be used for checking altitude.

Three different spectrographs, and they were used to capture light so they could determine the intensity of light at high altitudes.

A meteorograph to capture air pressure and temperature to help establish altitude.

Did a container of spores to high altitude and see if the spores would stay alive while they were up there, which they did.

So, when you see pictures of the balloon, when it started out, it's kind of teardrop-shaped.

But by the time it gets up to that high altitude, it's almost a complete circle.

This time, the balloon had to be bigger.

So, the second balloon in 1935 was 3,600,000 cubic feet.

(inspirational music) For that flight, they would've started around 9:00 in the evening, allowing the helium to flow into the balloon.

And it took about six hours to completely fill it.

- [Oona] Explorer II launched on November 11th, 1935 at 7:01 a.m.

They lifted off from the Black Hills of South Dakota at the Stratobowl.

(voices clamoring) (soft music) (audience cheering) The only people on board were Captain Albert W. Stevens and Captain Orvil Anderson.

Explorer II went up 72,395 feet, which is 14 miles above the ground and in the stratosphere.

When Explorer II got up to 72,395 feet, Captain Stevens took a photograph of the curvature of the earth, the first photograph taken at this height.

This photo covered 7,200 acres of land.

They traveled from Rapid City to near Stickney, South Dakota.

Explorer II drifted approximately 225 miles to the east before it landed intact.

They began to descend by opening a valve that Captain Albert invented to release some of the helium.

Explorer II landed in White Lake, South Dakota, at 3:14 p.m.

The whole flight took eight hours and 13 minutes.

They made many scientific discoveries.

They collected information about cosmic rays, ozone in the atmosphere, and measured the brightness of the earth and sky.

They also said stratosphere world record.

Stevens and Anderson were awarded the National Geographic Society's highest honor, the Hubbard Medal, for their accomplishment.

The Explorer II display in the Smithsonian highlights the significant contributions Captain Albert Stevens made to the science of space travel.

The information gained from the Explorer II mission was used to launch the NASA Apollo missions.

Captain Stevens' record wasn't broken until 21 years later in 1956.

- What did he do after setting a high altitude record?

- Do you know any inventions that Albert Stevens created?

- He does have a number of patents.

Actually, his first patents are coming out of World War I. The oblique angle of camera lens so that they didn't have to fly over machine gun nests in France and Germany, they could photograph from the side.

And then he invented an anti-fog lens too, which allowed him a little more visibility, being able to see through fog so he could photograph things.

And then, probably his most elaborate invention was a flash bomb so that they could set off this aerial flash bomb, and then he could take the photograph.

There's a great photograph of the lower end of New York City in which he has set off a flash bomb and he's photographed Manhattan Island at night lit up.

- Cool.

- Yeah.

- [Charles] 1927 was a patent for an airplane viewfinder.

Something you'd put in the bottom of a biplane, be able to see better looking down.

In 1936, he was granted a patent for electrically operated camera shutters.

And then in 1937, he was granted a patent for the valve that was used in the top of the balloons to let the gas out when necessary.

And so it's called a valve mechanism, and it was basically a way to let the gas out of the balloons.

- [Interviewer] Any cool or interesting facts that you think most people don't know or should know?

- [Charles] He went with a group of people from the Hayden Planetarium to photograph a full eclipse of the sun high over Peru.

And he took a picture that showed the first global corona of the sun.

It finally allowed scientists to actually understand what the corona of the sun's side looked like.

And that was really famous moment in astrophysics.

So, that probably was one of his greater things.

And keep in mind, this was 1936, and he was getting quite a bit older by then, but pretty cool.

- [Megan] So, he finally gets married.

He marries a woman who he has actually courted for about nine years.

So, he finally did settle down to a nice, quiet, married life, so we think.

You know, they bought a nice house.

- [Charles] They got married on August 8th, 1938.

- He bought himself a giant boat because this was in San Francisco, San Francisco Bay area.

He also, because his wife was a concert pianist, he finally bought her the grand piano that she had always wanted.

So, their house was filled with music all the time.

And I think he raised chickens.

- [Reed] Cool.

(soft piano music) - [Charles] In 1940, Stevens was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and put in charge of all the photographic activities at Lowry Field in Denver, Colorado.

And he was there until April of 1942, when he retired.

By then he had some medical issues and it was just time for him to retire.

He and his wife, they moved to San Carlos, California, little town just south of San Francisco.

He liked that area from a lot of travel he had done out there.

And they just lived basically a quiet life there until he passed away in 1949.

- [Oona] On March 26, 1949, Steven sadly passed away at 63 years old in San Mateo, California.

He was buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno.

(machine whirring) (inspirational music) In 1987, Captain Albert's wife, Ruth, wrote a book called "My Husband: The First Astronaut."

In her book, Explorer Bradford Washburn said, "Steve was one of my heroes.

"The most brilliant man I've ever known, "and an inspiration to all of us who knew him.

"He delighted in sharing his knowledge "as my mentor and teacher."

Washburn's own expeditions later led to detailed maps of Denali, the Grand Canyon, and Mount Everest.

Ruth Stevens eventually passed away at 86 years old on October 16th, 1990.

She is also buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery in California next to her husband.

(soft piano music continues) - What inspires people about Captain Albert Stevens?

- Well, what inspires me about knowing about him and researching him is his determination and courage.

- Is there anything about Captain Albert Stevens that inspires you?

- You mean the man, Captain Albert Stevens?

Yeah, I mean, he was an explorer.

He had courage and he followed up on his hunches and figured out how to do things that nobody else did.

And there's plenty of room for that kind of thing still.

- We should all be dreamers and we should all be curious.

He was fearless.

I tend to be that way.

So, maybe I feel a little bit like him.

But yeah, he was just a real inspiration.

(energetic music) - [Wendy] He was a pioneer in aviation.

He just had the Distinguished Flying Cross two times, the Hubbard medal and the Mackay Medal.

It's just, there's a lot written about him now.

- What do you know about Captain Stevens?

- Well, I imagine you know probably a lot more about him than me because you're doing this amazing research project.

I guess what I admire is just what I know, is that he was just this really amazing guy who had a lot of dreams and took flight.

And that in itself is kind of a metaphor for just like reaching the stars.

- And we learned a little bit about him and his importance, not just to this community, but to the world of science and of adventure and discovery.

- I think anybody who has the willingness to go up in a hot air balloon back in the early 1900s has a lot of courage.

- You know, he was just one of those people that pops out in a small town as being someone who's going to go far and do great things.

And he did.

I think he had an extremely curious mind that, you know, took him from photography to gold mining to mushing across Alaska or, you know, aerial photography in France and then continuing, you know, back in the United States.

This was just a man who just always seemed larger than life.

- [Person] This guy who represented making your dreams come true, something that anyone could learn from.

(light music) - [Interviewer] What does it mean to you to see the school celebrating its 20th anniversary?

- It's crazy (laughing).

It's amazing.

I guess really, really listen to your own heart.

Try not to get boxed in by all the things that people tell you you're supposed to do and figure out who you really are.

(inspirational music) (happy music) (chimes tinkling) (happy music continues) (tense music) - [Cameraperson] All right, you got an audience.

You're going to be fine.

All right.

Ready?

I'm going to say three, one, two, three, and then start talking.

Okay, ready?

One, two, three.

- Hi, my name is Edith.

And right now, I'm at the Crosby Center.

- As an adult, he was-- (wind howling) - Wait, stop.

- Old rope swing tied to an apple tree.

- [Cameraperson] I want to do it one more time.

What about the nickname?

- Oona, you're in front of the camera.

- As an adult, Captain Albert Stevens was named Daredevil of the Skies.

- [Cameraperson] So, can you do it one more time?

I didn't click play in time.

Let me count to three, then count in your brain for like, say one, and then say, okay, go.

- [Person] Traffic is so loud.

(engine rumbling) We should have got the Belfast police to help us.

Anyway.

Okay.

Ready, Gus?

Hold the clipboard a little lower.

Go.

- Captain Albert Stevens was named Daredevil of the Skies.

- [Person] One more time.

- [All] Daredevil of the skies!

- I'm Oona, and this is Gus, Edith, Goose, and Reed.

We are.

(dramatic music) - 2,000 feet up, and the air pressure is too high.

- The altimeter is dropping.

We're seven liters of feet.

(all laughing) - [Person] It's okay, it's okay.

- Three.

- Whee!

(student shouting) - You just climb up and be like, ahh!

- [Cameraperson] Yeah, yeah.

You won't get scared.

- You got this, buddy.

- Doesn't seem all that scared.

- [Cameraperson] Three, two, one.

- What?

The USA just joined World War I. I have to get the dogs and mush like a thousand miles to enlist.

(dramatic music continues) - What inspires you about Captain Albert Stevens?

- Well, first of all, he's wicked handsome.

(both laughing) I know, I can't help it.

(dramatic music continues) - Why did you choose to be a fifth grade teacher?

- Oh, because fifth graders are the best (laughing).

(dramatic music continues)