balloon in space

The image above was taken from an altitude of 117,597 feet above the surface of the Earth. It was taken with a Nikon Coolpix digital camera from a helium balloon launched in Alberta, Canada on August 11, 2007. As best I can gather from their website, the balloon was launched by a group of radio/space enthusiasts with their own money and a digital camera that can be bought at any store. I consider this accomplishment a part of the growing civilian exploration of space, the cutting edge of that effort being companies like Virgin Galactic that will soon offer paid seats to space.