February 4, 2023 US shoots down Chinese spy balloon off East Coast

President Joe Biden said the mission to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the East Coast Saturday was successful, and that he had ordered the Pentagon to knock the aircraft out of the sky as soon as it was safe to do so.

"They decided, without doing damage to anyone on the ground, they decided that the best time to do that was as it got over water ... within a 12-mile limit. They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it," the president added.

Asked if that was a recommendation from his national security team, Biden reiterated: “I told them to shoot it down. They said to me, 'Let’s wait for the safest place to do it.'”

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CNN's Nikki Carvajal contributed reporting to this post.

The US military used fighter jets from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to take down the suspected Chinese spy balloon at 2:39 p.m. ET on Saturday, according to a senior US military official.

A single missile was used, the official said. The US military used F-22 aircrafts and fired an AIM-9X missile.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the Chinese leader for the suspected spy balloon that was taken down after crossing the continental United States.

“I strongly condemn President Xi’s brazen incursion into American airspace and I commend President Biden’s leadership in taking down the Chinese balloon over water to ensure safety for all Americans," Schumer said in a statement Saturday. "Now we can collect the equipment and analyze the technology used by the Chinese Communist Party.”

The US has rejected China's claims that the balloon entered US airspace by accident, calling it a "civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “made clear" in his conversation with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Friday morning that the US "reserved the right to take whatever action we deemed appropriate to protect our interests," a US senior administration official told CNN Saturday.

The official was responding to a question about whether the US government informed the Chinese government before downing the surveillance balloon. 

US military officials shot down the suspected spy balloon off the East Coast Saturday afternoon, over the Atlantic Ocean near the Carolinas.

After extending a ground stop at three airports in North and South Carolina, the Federal Aviation Administration said it has reopened airspace in the area.

The stop was lifted shortly after the US military took down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean.

“Flights to and from Wilmington (ILM), Myrtle Beach International (MYR) and Charleston International (CHS) airports are resuming. Other airspace has been reopened. Normal operations resuming,” the FAA said in a statement.

Twitter user Devon Pace captured video of the takedown of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of the Carolinas.

A US official told CNN that the military shot down the balloon.

Georgetown, South Carolina, resident Joey Lopes told CNN he was visiting Myrtle Beach for the day when he looked up in the sky around 2:30 p.m. ET and saw the balloon near the coast.

Lopes said he recorded video at 2:38 p.m. ET after he heard a loud bang in the sky. His video shows the balloon moments after it started to fall from the sky. The contrails of two jets can be seen near the balloon.

Lopes said he also heard a bang about one minute after he first saw the balloon had been shot.

Travis Huffstetler, a local photographer in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, said he witnessed the US military shoot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon Saturday afternoon.

Huffstetler watched the incident from the 15th floor of a hotel. He recalled seeing multiple aircraft flying around the balloon for about 20 to 30 minutes, before he saw what appeared to be a missile come from an airplane that struck the balloon down.

"It was super visible here from the beach," he added.

According to Huffstetler, beach access points and streets were packed with people who had their cameras pointed up to the sky. 

Huffstetler said he captured photos right as the balloon was pierced and began to disintegrate. 

CNN’s Hannah Sarisohn contributed to this post.

Recovery efforts are underway off the coast of the Carolinas where the suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the US military, a US official said Saturday.

The specific method of taking down the balloon is still unclear, but the order was given by President Joe Biden and was presented and supported by military leadership, according to the official.

The key was getting the balloon over the ocean, the official said.

The Federal Aviation Administration's ground stop has been extended until 5:15 p.m. ET for three airports in the Carolinas after an official says the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon.

The affected airports are in Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The original ground stop was from 12:45 p.m. ET to 2:45 p.m. ET for "national defense airspace,” and then it was extended to 3:15 p.m. ET.

During a ground stop, all aircraft that meet specific criteria must stay on the ground.