Maintenance window scheduled to begin at February 14th 2200 est. until 0400 est. February 15th

(e.g. yourname@email.com)

Forgot Password?

    Defense Visual Information Distribution Service Logo

    Quartermaster coin, regimental crest travel to stratosphere during high-altitude test

    Quartermaster coin, regimental crest travel to stratosphere

    Courtesy Photo | The Quartermaster General’s coin (plastic case above pole) and his organization’s...... read more read more

    UNITED STATES

    04.28.2016

    Courtesy Story

    Fort Gregg-Adams

    FORT LEE, Va. (April 28, 2016) -- The Quartermaster coin and insignia have boldly gone where few, if any, Army organizational identifiers have gone before. On Saturday, a travel and photography first was achieved thanks to a University of Alabama student initiative – Project Firefly.

    During a high-altitude prototype flight from the Tuscaloosa campus, a QM Distinctive Unit Insignia and the QM General’s Coin of Excellence were lifted 94,000-feet into the stratosphere on a balloon platform. A GoPro camera captured photographs during the successful trip.

    The objects were donated by Paul Morando, director of the U.S. Army QM Museum. He gives credit for the photographic idea to Matt Culver, a museum summer intern, and one of the 12 undergraduate students working on the college project.

    “Matt kept talking to me about how the balloon would have cameras photographing the vehicle during its flight in April,” said Morando. “As we continued to talk, I thought it would be a great idea if they could use quartermaster symbols in some way and be photographed on the flight.”

    He said, “The Firefly team approved and figured out a way to attach the regimental crest and Brig. Gen. (Ron) Kirklin’s coin to a pole on the platform.”

    In a letter outlining its plans to Kirklin, the team wrote, “The vehicle will ... climb to maximum altitude over Central Alabama, and descend under parachute for landing somewhere near the Alabama/Georgia border. A suite of three cameras on board the vehicle will capture high-resolution photo and video imagery of the coin and insignia against the curvature of the earth.”

    The letter continued, “Upon the vehicle’s return to earth, the coin and photographs will be returned to Fort Lee and presented as a gift to the Quartermaster Corps from the team and the university.”

    In describing the successful mission on its website, the Project Firefly team wrote, “The team ... used the balloon as a prototype in preparation for August 2017 when the team will be part of a NASA initiative to document a full solar eclipse across North America from 100,000 feet. They caught these images with a GoPro camera mounted to the balloon on the way up. The balloon floated to about 94,000 feet and landed safely south of Tuscaloosa. Using tracking software they designed, the students were able to meet the balloon as it landed.”

    Culver told Morando two of the cameras “froze” on the trip but the third captured a number of photographs. Morando called this “a significant achievement since it’s the first military coin to be part of any high-altitude launch.”

    A Fort Lee presentation date has not been finalized, Morando said.

    LEAVE A COMMENT

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 04.28.2016
    Date Posted: 04.28.2016 16:59
    Story ID: 196813
    Location: US

    Web Views: 40
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN