The UFO hysteria that erupted in the United States and Canada this month turned into ironic situations. One of them, perhaps the most important: the Air Force used a $439,000 missile to shoot down a balloon… for $12.
The unidentified flying objects, found after another that turned out to be a Chinese scientific balloon (spy, in the words of the US government), were no more than civilian balloons. The authorities would ratify it later, thus erasing all kinds of speculations regarding extraterrestrials.
This month, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre stressed: “I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is, again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent shootdowns.”
On the balloons, Pentagon spokesman Admiral John Kirby said: “We know that a variety of entities, including countries, companies, academic and research organizations, operate objects at these altitudes for purposes that are not at all nefarious, including research. scientific”.
And then more details would be known. Like the one with the famous 12 dollar balloon.
The $12 Balloon That Was Shot Down In UFO Hysteria
The Register, A technology portal points out that one of the objects shot down is a Pico Balloon K9YO, possibly belonging to the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB), a scientific club.
The NIBBB reported that they last had contact with the K9YO in the early hours of February 11, near Hagemeister Island off the Alaskan coast.
In the absence of confirmation by the US authorities, that could be the downed UFO: a balloon that would cost, depending on the type, from 12 to 180 dollars.
While the United States’ Sidewinder air-to-air missile, used to burst the scientific balloon, cost $439,000. Ouch.
Ron Meadows belongs to Scientific Balloon Solutionsa picoballoon factory for scientific and hobby purposes, and told Aviation Week who tried to contact the United States Army and the FBI to explain that it could be a balloon and not a foreign or extraterrestrial ship.
“They just evaded me. I wanted to enlighten you on what a lot of these things are. They didn’t seem too smart taking them down,” Meadows said.
One more episode of our unusual universe.