Ballons, explosions, trains and meteors.
The story so far... 17 strange days
Feb. 2: A senior U.S. defense official tells reporters that the U.S. is tracking a
flying object and has "very high confidence" that the object is a Chinese high-altitude balloon and is flying over sensitive sites to collect information.
Feb. 3: In a rare expression of contrition, China says it "regrets the unintended entry of the airship into U.S. airspace." It insists the balloon was not there to spy on U.S. military sites, but was a civilian airship sent up for research purposes and had accidentally drifted over the U.S. due to weather currents.
Feb. 3/4:41 pm A woman saw what she claims was a possible
explosion in the sky over Billings on Friday, February 3, 2022, and she shared a video of the incident on Twitter. The video went viral
Feb. 3, just before 9 p.m. ET, a Norfolk Southern
train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, a town of about 4,800 people near the border with Pennsylvania. 11 cars were carrying hazardous material, investigators said. Five cars were carrying vinyl chloride, a cancer-causing substance. In order to avoid a catastrophic explosion,
officials evacuated residents and intentionally burned off some of the chemicals
Feb. 4: A
U.S. fighter plane shoots down the balloon as soon as it drifts over open water off the coast of South Carolina. China calls the downing of its balloon an "obvious overreaction" and continues to insist the balloon was a civilian research airship.
Feb. 6, crews released the vinyl chloride from the derailed cars into a trench, where they burned it off in a "controlled explosion," causing
a dramatic plume of black smoke.
Feb. 8: The U.S. State Department tells reporters the shot-down Chinese balloon is part of a "fleet" of balloons overseen by the People's Liberation Army. Pictures of the balloon, officials say, showed it had equipment onboard that a normal weather balloon would not need — including large solar panels, multiple antennas and sensors for intelligence surveillance.
Feb. 8, East Palestine. The evacuation order was lifted. Officials said air quality was measured and deemed safe before allowing residents to return home.
Feb. 9: The U.S. briefs diplomats from 40 countries about the Chinese balloon it shot down. On Capitol Hill, both chambers of Congress receive classified briefings on the incident.
Feb. 10-12: The
U.S. shoots down three unidentified objects in as many days, all found in North American airspace.
Feb.12 Meteor Sar2667 lights up the sky in northern France.
Feb. 13: China hits back with its own balloon allegations, accusing the U.S. of flying its own high altitude balloons into Chinese airspace, without Beijing's permission, on more than 10 occasions since January 2022.
Feb. 14: Senators receive a classified briefing on the unidentified objects, with members of both parties leaving the briefing saying they are assured that the spate of unidentified floating objects shot down by U.S. jets in recent days do not pose an immediate threat to Americans.
Feb. 15 Multiple agencies are looking into calls of a loud explosion over Mission Texas. Houston Air Traffic Control has received 2 reports of blue streaks in the sky and sounds of an explosion over Mission, Texas; possible meteorite has struck the area.
Feb.16 White House Press Secretary on the 3 downed UFOs: "
No evidence they originated in China; not operated by U.S. government; President Biden to address public at 14:00 hrs."
President of the United States, Joe Biden:
"We don't know exactly what these 3 objects were / My Secretary of State will lead an effort to help establish common global standards on largely unregulated unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs)."
Feb. 16 Over a 80+ firefighters battle a
Massive 5 acre fire that has broken out a warehouse storing plastic plant pots, fertilizers, and other plant material in Kissimmee, Florida.
Feb. 16 Another train derailment, this time in Van Buren Township outside Detroit, Michigan, with one car carrying hazardous materials
Feb.17 The U.S. ended the search for two of the unidentified objects it shot down, raising the possibility that the
devices will never be collected and analyzed
Lines of Communication between U.S. and Chinese Military Officials have reportedly been Closed according to the White House National Security Council.
Links
The U.S. and China have traded fiery allegations of extensive aerial surveillance programs since the U.S. shot down a Chinese balloon on Feb. 4. Here's a look at what's happened so far.
www.publicradiotulsa.org
Other information obtained from Twitter.
TO BE CONTINUED
www.airandspaceforces.com
en.wikipedia.org
