Belfast native and Army Air Corps Captain Albert W. Stevens, a famed aerial photographer, captured his hometown on film in September 1923, showing the newly built Memorial Bridge, the open fields of the east side, and a steamboat heading away from the dock. During World War I, he served by taking aerial photographs of German positions. On November 11, 1935, he commanded the flight of Explorer II, a helium balloon that ascended to a record altitude of 72,395 feet, or 13.71 miles. The first mission to reach the stratosphere, it was co-sponsored by the Army Air Corps and the National Geographic Society and provided scientific data. During this historic flight, Stevens took the first photographic image showing the curvature of the earth.