New Report Emerges About High-Altitude Balloon That Flew Over US Friday

According to a new report, the high-altitude balloon spotted soaring across the Western U.S. on Friday was nothing more than a hobbyist device and has already left American airspace.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command told CBS News that Federal investigators tracked the small balloon, which flew at an altitude between 43,000 and 45,000 feet, until it traversed beyond U.S. lines sometime during the night.

NORAD fighter jets intercepted the balloon while it was hovering over Utah on Friday. Officials were unsure of the balloon’s origin but determined that the balloon, which was not maneuverable, “posed no hazard to flight safety.”

One official told CBS News that the balloon appeared to be made of Mylar and had a small, cube-shaped box about two-feet long on each side, hanging below it.

NORAD was first alerted to the balloon’s presence while it was flying over Colorado, while drifting toward the east and following the path of the jet stream.

An official with the Department of Defense told CBS News that the object was actually a hobbyist balloon but did not provide further details. 

The latest balloon incident comes just over a year after U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jets shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, after it had traversed the entirety of the continental United States over the course of several days.

During that time, the craft made multiple passes over key U.S. military installations prior to being shot down. 

At the time, President Biden described the payload of the balloon as “two boxcars full of spy equipment” and faced harsh criticism from Republicans, who argued it should have been brought down sooner. 

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