Gastonia PD/Twitter (Dan Satterfield) Chinese surveillance balloon and tracker.
The Chinese surveillance balloon that was floating across the United States, with meteorologists monitoring its path, has been shot down by the U.S. government on February 4, 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The balloon was shot down on Saturday afternoon in the U.S. territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina, the U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III confirmed in a statement. The statement says the balloon was shot down at the orders of President Joe Biden once it was determined that the balloon would no longer pose a risk to people down below. See video of the moment the balloon was shot down here and here:
Here’s the apparent moment of impact
RIP Chinese Spy Balloon. Never forget.
Before it was shot down, multiple meteorologists tweeted the projected balloon path; you can see many of the trackers throughout this article. The balloon ended up right where most of them predicted: off the coast of South Carolina.
Chinese spy balloon predicted path is bringing it in very close proximity to the Savannah River Site (a sensitive nuclear processing facility) in South Carolina. @SRSNews #ChineseSpyBalloon #map #WarGames #ShootItDown
Image from @rawsalerts
“FYI, IF it can be raised and lowered, the track might vary quite a bit. It would have to be lowered into the commercial air lanes though to change it a lot,” tweeted meteorologist Dan Satterfield, one of the meteorologists who was tracking the balloon.
Meteorologist predicted path of the Chinese spy balloon
Here’s what you need to know:
The Chinese Surveillance Balloon Was Shot Down After It Was Determined There Was No Longer ‘Undue Risk to American Lives,’ the Government Says
Here’s a video from my high school English teacher of the balloon being shot down over South Carolina. (Thanks to Mrs. Ellis for being a great teacher and for sending video of the live news!)
“The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States, was brought down above U.S. territorial waters,” the Department of Defense statement says.
According to the statement, President Joe Biden, on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, “gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon’s path.”
FYI, IF it can be raised and lowered, the track might vary quite a bit. It would have to be lowered into the commercial air lanes though to change it a lot.
Most trackers that mapped the balloon had it heading through the Midwest and then to the southern eastern seaboard.
Meteorologist Ryan Truchelut also created trackers to predict the balloon’s path.
“Future BALLOON trajectory highly dependent on altitude, which is unknown. At 15km (L), BALLOON races east out-to-sea. At 20km (C), heads towards Southeast coast. At 25km (R), hooks back west,” he tweeted.
“Also, these assume BALLOON is a passive tracer, not being controlled (or ‘derelict’),” he wrote.
Future BALLOON trajectory highly dependent on altitude, which is unknown. At 15km (L), BALLOON races east out-to-sea. At 20km (C), heads towards Southeast coast. At 25km (R), hooks back west.
Also, these assume BALLOON is a passive tracer, not being controlled (or “derelict”).
This Chinese Spy Balloon story is wild but to be honest the only difference between today and every other day is you can actually see the thing taking your picture up there 🤷♂️
WRTV’s John Dissauer tweeted on the evening of February 3, 2023, “The projected path of a parcel of air at 60,000 feet from near Paducah, KY earlier this evening. In theory this is the approximate path of the Chinese surveillance balloon. Looks like it should be out to see between 10am and 12pm Saturday.”
This is interesting.
@accuweather plotted the Chinese balloon path. Strategic Air Command is still near Omaha, right?
The projected path of a parcel of air at 60,000 feet from near Paducah, KY earlier this evening. In theory this is the approximate path of the Chinese surveillance balloon.
Looks like it should be out to see between 10am and 12pm Saturday.
The Chinese Surveillance Balloon Moved From Montana Through the Midwest, Reports Say
Projected path of Chinese Balloon
Shades of Sputnik from the 1950’s!
According to CBS News, by the morning of February 3, 2023, the balloon had moved out of Montana and was “over the Midwest.” It’s the first time a Chinese balloon floated over the middle of the United States, CBS reported.
NPR reported that the Chinese government claims the balloon is for research purposes and “accidentally went off course.” According to NPR, the U.S. Department of Defense believes the balloon was used as “surveillance.”
The clearest picture yet of a Chinese spy balloon over the continental United States
According to The Associated Press, Secretary of State Antony Blinken “abruptly canceled a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing U.S.-China tensions” as the balloon floated through U.S. airspace.
After flying over Montana, the balloon “headed southeastward over Kansas and Missouri at 60,000 feet (18,300 meters),” according to AP.
Maps Correctly Predicted That the Chinese Surveillance Balloon Would End up Over South Carolina
Chinese spy balloon predicted path is bringing it in very close proximity to the Savannah River Site (a sensitive nuclear processing facility) in South Carolina. @SRSNews #ChineseSpyBalloon #map #WarGames #ShootItDown
Image from @rawsalerts
This tracker predicted the balloon would move from Montana through a tiny piece of Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, southern Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and South Carolina.
Other people tracked jets they believed were monitoring the balloon.
Mike Maze, a meteorologist with WRAL-TV tweeted a tracker that shows the balloon was spotted in Missouri and was headed to North Carolina.
Chinese Balloon now spotted over Missouri this afternoon. On current trajectory and looking at the upper level winds, the balloon should make its way across North Carolina tomorrow.@WRALWeather
At 11:31 a.m. on February 3, 2023, the National Weather Service’s Kansas City station tweeted, “We have had several reports across northwest MO of a large balloon visible on the horizon. It is now visible from our office in Pleasant Hill and the KC Metro. We have confirmed that it is not an NWS weather balloon.”
We have had several reports across northwest MO of a large balloon visible on the horizon. It is now visible from our office in Pleasant Hill and the KC Metro. We have confirmed that it is not an NWS weather balloon.
A North Carolina Police Department asked people not to shoot at the balloon but then deleted its post on Facebook.
The Gastonia Police Department is asking residents to not shoot at the Chinese spy balloon if it flies over North Carolina
“We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder told AP, which added that a second balloon was seen over Latin America. The balloon was the size of three buses and, if shot down over land, its debris could injure people on the ground, which is why the U.S. government held off doing so at first, AP reported.
READ NEXT: Lindsay Clancy, Massachusetts Nurse Accused of Strangling Her Three Kids.