Dryden's Steve Parcel Receives NASA Video Award

By Alan Brown
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Videographer Steve Parcel, January 26, 2004. NASA photo by Tony Landis.

Steve Parcel, an Arcata Associates videographer at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, was honored recently for his work in recording a flight of the Helios Prototype solar-electric aircraft in Hawaii last June.

"It was an honor to receive this agency-wide award, knowing the caliber of videographers NASA has," Parcel said. "I was in the right place at the right time; to shoot a graceful plane like Helios with the Hawaiian islands as a backdrop, in high-definition video, was an opportunity of a lifetime."

Parcel took first place in the documentation category, winning NASA's highest award for documentation videography for 2003. The category is one of three for the NASA Videographer of the Year awards. Other categories included public affairs and production videography.

Parcel was cited for his camera and editing work in documenting a checkout flight of the Helios Prototype solar-electric aircraft equipped with a supplementary experimental fuel cell power system last June 7. In addition to recording extensive ground preparations for the flight, Parcel visually documented the flight itself from a chase helicopter, positioned in a safety harness partially outside the craft's open side door.

The award was presented to Parcel during a NASA reception at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas April 20.

A three-judge panel evaluated entries for all three categories on professional excellence, technical quality, originality, creativity within restrictions of the project, and applicability to NASA and its mission. Entries consisted of a continuous video sequence or three views of the same subject for a maximum of three minutes duration.