"What is inside the Chinese spy balloon?": Speculation sparks hilarious reactions online as US shoots down airship

The Chinese spy balloon, an alleged surveillance tool looming over the U.S. since last week, has reportedly been shot down by officials. The Department of Defense issued a statement confirming that its fighter jets shot the airship over U.S. territorial waters.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin shared that President Joe Biden ordered to take down the balloon without posing any risk to American lives:

"On Wednesday, President Biden gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon's path.”

Austin said military officials had previously determined that taking down the balloon over land would pose an “undue risk to people across a wide area” due to the “size and altitude of the balloon” as well as its “surveillance payload.”

President Biden added that he ordered the U.S. Pentagon to shoot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon after he received a brief about the device on Wednesday. Officials reportedly decided that the balloon should be taken down over water with a 12-mile limit:

“They decided that the best time to do that was over water within our within 12-mile limit. They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it.”

As the U.S. shot down the Chinese spy balloon, social media users began speculating about the remains found inside the device. The theories also sparked hilarious reactions from netizens on social media. Twitterati @ItsSamG wrote:

"What's inside the Chinese Spy Balloon? Wrong answer only?"

Amid the ongoing speculation, a senior military official told the press that the surveillance balloon was about the size of three school buses and the remains from the blast were spread across a seven-mile debris field in shallow waters of the Atlantic.

The US Federal Aviation Administration reportedly paused all civilian flights at three airports around the South Carolina coast on Saturday afternoon citing “national security effort” while officials laid the groundwork for the operation.

The coast guard advised mariners to leave the area due to military operations “that present a significant hazard.” Hayley Walsh, an eyewitness on the coast, told BBC News that she saw three fighter jets circling before the missile was fired:

“We heard a huge boom, the house shook.”

A senior military official told CNN that the recovery of debris should be “fairly easy” and could take “relatively short time” to be collected. The official mentioned that “capable Navy divers” might be deployed to assist in the operation.

The military has reportedly begun its efforts to recover debris and two naval ships, including one with a heavy crane for recovery, were already deployed in the area.

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Twitter shares funny responses to Chinese spy balloon blast

Speculation over the remains of Chinese spy balloon sparked hilarious responses online (Image via Getty Images)

The Chinese spy balloon has continued to make news ever since the U.S. Pentagon spotted the device in the sky above the state of Montana. Authorities in the U.S. believed that the airship was sent by China for spying purposes, and it flew over “sensitive sites” to collection information.

While Beijing admitted to the ownership of the balloon, it denied claims of spying and said that the balloon was used for “meteorological research” purposes and entered the U.S. airspace unintentionally.

However, the U.S. ultimately shot down the balloon over its territorial waters and collected over seven miles of debris. Meanwhile, several social media users took to Twitter to speculate about the content of the Chinese spy balloon using funny theories and hilarious remarks.

As reactions continued to pour in online, China's foreign ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction and protest against the U.S. use of force to attack civilian unmanned aircraft.” The ministry continued:

“The Chinese side has repeatedly informed the US side after verification that the airship is for civilian use and entered the US due to force majeure - it was completely an accident.”

Footage of the operation showed the Chinese spy balloon falling into the sea after a small explosion. Defense officials confirmed that the debris from the balloon landed in 47ft of water near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.