US Army sailors recover parts of the balloon envelope off the coast of Myrtle Beach. (Tyler Thompson / US Navy / ZUMA Pres / dpa)
The US military command said that important parts could be recovered from the sea. Among them are sensors for gathering news and electronic parts, as well as large pieces of debris from the box. The balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4. The US government assumes that China is involved in espionage. Beijing, on the other hand, talks about a balloon for meteorological research purposes that went astray.
In recent days, other flying objects have been shot down over the United States and Canada. According to the National Safety Council, they flew at altitudes so low that they posed a risk to civilian air traffic. So far, nothing has been reported about the nature and origin of these flying objects. However, US government spokeswoman Jean-Pierre emphasized that there was no evidence of extraterrestrials.
This message was broadcast on 02/14/2023 on Deutschlandfunk.