Mysterious high-altitude hobbyist balloon left US airspace overnight

The mysterious high-altitude balloon spotted soaring the Western US Friday was simply a hobbyist device and has already left American airspace, according to a report.

Federal investigators tracked the small balloon, flying at an altitude between 43,000 and 45,000 feet, until it traversed beyond US lines sometime during the night, the North American Aerospace Defense Command told CBS News.

Fighter jets for NORAD, the nation’s airspace watchdog, intercepted the balloon shortly as it hovered over Utah Friday.

Although officials were unsure of the balloon’s origin, they immediately determined that the balloon, which was not maneuverable, “posed no hazard to flight safety.”

One official told CBS News that it appeared to be made of Mylar and had a small cube-shaped box, about two feet long on each side, hanging below it. 

NORAD was first alerted to the balloon’s presence as it flew over Colorado, noticeably drifting in an easterly direction and following the path of the jetstream. 

An official with the Department of Defense told CBS News that the object was actually a hobbyist balloon, but did not provide further details. 

Its presence over the US mainland comes just over a year after US Air Force F-22 fighter jets shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast after it had traversed the continental US over the course of several days. 

The craft made multiple passes over key US military installations before it was shot down.

President Biden described the Chinese balloon’s payload as “two boxcars full of spy equipment” and faced intense criticism from Republicans, who argued that it should’ve been brought down sooner.