comment: >
  
  You really think there isn't a safe place to down the balloon in Montana? Montana is just land
context: I wonder what they’ll discover from the recovering debris. >
  
  A memory card with data on the concentration of CO2 at 60,000 feet.
  I heard it had cameras and a technology bay. The solar panels I like because I take that to mean it could have stayed airborne and running for some time. Hope the sea water doesn't damage everything. >
  
  It's incidents like these that make me wonder about the state of our media. We literally shot a balloon out of the sky and caused an international incident, all because we were led to believe we couldn't figure out exactly what it was doing. >
  
  I wish it wasn’t shot down but I don’t have a problem with it as that is pretty much how it goes. It’s the story that in 2023 China is sending a balloon across the world to take pictures of missile silos and that Republicans blew it out of proportion. If the Republican politicians of the greatest super power in the world get butt hurt over a balloon that just looks bad. Meanwhile people are telling me I’m wrong and China is in big trouble. They won’t be able to make agreements from a good position because now they owe USA a favor.
  I blame China for losing 2 balloons and not giving USA a heads up. They also haven’t provided any details. But again, not a big deal. It’s a balloon. USA has it now. That's the next problem. Someone's story is going to have to change and how they handle it is what's important. >
  
  So basically, like non- idiots, they waited until it wasn't going to crash into somebody's house in order to blow it out of the sky. >
  
  I like that they are now calling it a spy balloon not a weather balloon >
  
  How many ballons are there? >
  
  Many numbers are floating around, but they seemed a little inflated. >
  
  Up up and away! >
  
  Watch this thing he loaded with shredded newspaper and e-waste >
  
  "Spy balloon" 
  Oh no the Chinese might know how humid it was over Myrtle Beach! Whatever will they do with such confidential information? >
  
  Spy ballon.. but it’s there for a while with communication devices.. am I missing something? It must have accomplished what it supposed to spy on.  
  Why anyone let this SPY balloon stay that long ?  I know people’s safety and all. It’s not like it will rain down fire .. we can just say people take cover .. stay home.. look up and move away etc.. but letting a SPY balloon stay that long is bad decision >
  
  You know every one of your questions was answered in the article, right? >
  
  I think you must be joking. Or you understand English in different way. Nothing in that article has answer to my questions… can they show the data it captured? You know what is Chinese are intelligent enough they even left a memory card with weather data to be captured by US , if it were to shot down. But any decent spy will transmit the data immediately.. >
  
  Maybe it's because you asked none of that. 
  You asked: 
  
  "Why anyone let this SPY balloon stay that long ?  I know people’s safety
   and all. It’s not like it will rain down fire .. we can just say people
   take cover .. stay home.. look up and move away etc.. but letting a SPY
   balloon stay that long is bad decision"
  
  Answer from the article:
  
  Austin said military commanders "had determined downing the balloon 
  while over land posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to 
  the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload."  
  Speaking on Saturday, President Biden told reporters he gave the order on 
  Wednesday. U.S. officials "said to me, 'Let's wait 'til the safest place
   to do it,' " he said. "They successfully took it down, and I want to 
  compliment our aviators who did it," Biden added.
  
  ​
  But nice try attempting to move the goalposts.