A suspected Chinese spy balloon floats off the coast of South Carolina in February 2023.
Credit: © Randall Hill, Reuters/Alamy Images

If you have seen the news recently, you have probably heard about the suspected spy balloons floating over North America. The United States has shot down four floating objects in the past two weeks. What are these mysterious balloons?

These aren’t balloons that were accidentally let go at a birthday party! The balloons in question are designed to float at high altitudes in the sky and perform a function. Some balloons track weather, and others record information from down below.

The balloon shot down on Saturday, February 4th, was a Chinese device with surveillance capabilities. One American official said it was about the size of three school buses! It was floating about 60,000 feet (18,000 meters) above the ground. The balloon had floated from Montana to South Carolina. On Friday, President Joe Biden ordered a fighter jet to shoot down the balloon. Navy officers worked to recover the debris from the Atlantic Ocean to figure out what exactly the balloon was doing. While the United States did not know much about the balloon, the discovery led Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to cancel his planned diplomatic trip to Beijing.

Starting Friday, February 10th, the United States shot down one unidentified object daily for three days. These objects were all either unlawfully in Canadian or American air space or posed a threat to flights. The object shot down on Friday was 40,000 feet (12,000 meters) over frozen waters on the northern coast of Alaska. This object was about the size of a small car. This object was smaller than the first balloon targeted a week before.

On Saturday, February 11th, the United States shot down an object around 100 miles from the United States and Canadian border in Yukon, Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed he agreed with the plan. This object was smaller than the one shot down over South Carolina eight days prior and was more cylindrical in shape.

The next day, an object soaring 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) over Lake Huron, near Michigan, was shot down on February 12th, 2023. This object was octagonal with strings hanging off of it. Officials stated it could have been a flight safety threat and a surveillance balloon.

Officials were unable to locate the objects shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron since they submerged under partially frozen water. President Biden called off the search for them. We will not know who controlled those objects or what they did over American territory. Researchers will study the object shot down over Canada to see what its purpose was. Biden announced that the last three objects were most likely tied to private companies researching weather or other scientific studies. However, the first balloon was confirmed to be controlled by China.

The recent events have complicated the relationship between the United States and China. Officials from China have stated the balloon was a civilian weather research airship and not a means to collect surveillance data from other countries. While some people think the balloons and objects are from alien lifeforms, American officials have claimed there has been no indication that the objects were extraterrestrial.