WASHINGTON (AP) — A U-2 pilot flying excessive above the Chinese language secret agent balloon took a close-up photograph of the huge white orb only a day prior to the Air Pressure shot it down off the South Carolina coast.
The photograph displays the highest of the pilot’s helmet throughout the U-2 cockpit with the balloon flying under.
It used to be taken Feb. 3 because the balloon “hovered over the Central Continental United States,” in line with the caption supplied through the Protection Division.
The Pentagon launched the picture Wednesday, greater than two weeks after the balloon made global headlines because it transited the USA.
Division of Protection by the use of Related Press
The balloon used to be downed on Feb. 4 through an F-22 fighter jet firing a AIM-9X Sidewinder missile. The strike came about as soon as the balloon used to be now not over land however used to be nonetheless inside U.S. territorial waters.
The U-2 Dragon Girl is a high-altitude U.S. secret agent airplane that has been in provider for the reason that Nineteen Fifties.
The Pentagon introduced final Friday that Army ships and submersibles had finished restoration of the large balloon and its payload, which fell in items into the Atlantic Ocean.
The payload used to be recovered from the sea flooring and is being analyzed through the FBI, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh stated Wednesday.
The shootdown led to 3 different smaller items additionally being shot down through Air Pressure jets inside a length of 8 days: one over Alaska, one over Canada and one over Lake Huron. Searches for the Alaska and Lake Huron items have ended.