A Chinese spy balloon that entered American airspace on January 28 and traversed from Alaska all the way to the Atlantic coast. The balloon is the size of three buses, equipped with solar panels for power and a surveillance payload. It doesn't sound good that China just kind of brazenly was collecting intelligence on the United States right above our heads without really anyone doing anything about it until they made a shot down on Saturday.
The balloon crisis is blown up. Politico’s Alex Ward deflates it for us.
This episode was produced by Amanda Lewellyn, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Miles Bryan, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey and Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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