Mysteries Across the North American Skies

On January 29, 2023, a flying object puzzled many people of the United States. Was it a bird, was it a plane, no it was a Chinese operated balloon.

A Chinese operated balloon, suspected to be a spy balloon, flew across the North American sky from January 29-February 4. The balloon was white thought to be flying 60,000-65,000ft above commercial aircraft, having large bay technology, being maneuverable, and being the size of three buses.

This is not the first incident of seeing Chinese balloons traveling across the sky. During 2022 two Chinese balloons were spotted and being tracked near Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam.

Though China claimed for the balloon to not be a threat and just a civilian aircraft blown off course, America took the situation into effect that the aircraft will be taken down as it opposed a “violation of U.S sovereignty and national law.”

Careful consideration had to be taken before destroying the balloon due to the potential risk of where to take down the aircraft, and the risks of debris coming off the aircraft.

The time stamp of events prior to the elimination of the balloon were, 2/1 President Joe Biden decides on the idea to take the balloon down, 2/3 approval is given to remove aircraft.

On 2/4/23 a little after 2:30 E.T,  the Chinese balloon was taken down by the U.S. Military with a f-22 aircraft in the 12 miles of U.S. territorial waters over the Atlantic Ocean.

China was not pleased with the action America took to take down the balloon. “The US used force to attack our civilian unmanned airship, which is an obvious overreaction”, China’s Defense Ministry spokesperson Tan Kefei said. “We express solemn protest against this move by the US side.”

A second balloon was spotted flying over Latin America which was also claimed to have changed courses due to the weather.

With the balloon now gone, what were the true intentions of the balloon, and will we ever see more in the future?