High altitude Balloon flight over Mount Olympus, Greece

This photograph showing Mount Olympus, Greece (center, inland from coast) and the Thermaic Gulf (lower left) was taken from a high altitude balloon on July 19, 2012. The balloon was at an altitude of 21 mi (34 km) over the city of Thessaloniki, Greece when the photo was taken. Image credit: Kostas Tamateas; Kostas’s Facebook page

North is to the right. The project that launched the balloon is called TESLA-IKAROS — Mission Balkan Space Express I.

It was Greece’s first near-space balloon project. The capsule was retrieved intact and it can be reused without any modifications. Note that the black sky (top of photo) results because there’s too few air molecules, at altitudes above about 60,000 ft (18,288 m) to effectively scatter sunlight. Thus, the sky is basically colorless.