Athan Kang (10) | STAFF REPORTER
On January 28, 2023, a high-altitude Chinese balloon was spotted in North American airspace, including a portion of Canada. After the balloon traveled across the entirety of North America, it was eventually shot down by the US military off the coast of South Carolina. According to the USA, this aircraft was capable of sending signals for intelligence collection operations. Nonetheless, the Chinese Foreign Ministry claims that it was used for weather research and had simply blown off its course.
However, NORAD says that the airship is approximately 200 feet tall, carrying a payload weighing a couple thousand pounds. Thus, this lead to US officials in opposition of the act of shooting down the balloon with the fear that the falling debris would damage property and injure citizens during its descent.
So instead of eradicating the airship, people advocated that it be monitored and also studied as it floated across the continent; individuals saw more benefits in leaving the balloon rather than destroying it. Soon, US U-2 spy planes were sent to keep track of the balloon’s journey until February 4, 2023, when the USA decided to shoot down the aircraft while it was gliding over the Atlantic Ocean.
Over the following 13 days, the United States managed to recover the debris leftover from what was once up, up, and away over North America. The fragments of the balloon were then sent to an FBI laboratory in Virginia for further investigation to solve the mystery behind the sudden appearance of this Chinese spy balloon.
