The photo was taken mid-air by a U-2 pilot.
Thursday, February 23, 2023 4:29 PM
Washington – The US military has released a close-up of a Chinese spy balloon, taken mid-air from a U-2 spy plane.
The photo was taken on Friday, February 3, while the blimp was flying over the American Midwest at 60,000 feet – while the U-2 spy plane was flying over the continental United States.
The image shows the U2 spy plane flying directly over the balloon with the pilot’s helmet visible in the foreground.
In this photo, a US Air Force U-2 pilot looks down at a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovers over the United States on February 3, 2023.
Department of Defense via AP
U-2 spy planes are usually single-seat aircraft, but the U-2 that flew alongside the airship was a two-seat trainer.
The photo was taken by the other pilot sitting in the second seat.
Shown in the white balloon fabric is the silhouette of a U-2 and below is the payload that carried the reconnaissance sensors, antennas, and solar panels.
This load has been described as three school buses in length.
The day after the photo was taken, the balloon was dropped on February 4 over US territorial waters off South Carolina.
A two-week recovery operation off the coast of South Carolina recovered most of the balloon and its cargo, which is now being analyzed by the FBI.
The incident caused a domestic and international political firestorm.
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