Explained and disputed
Reports later explained as balloons, rockets, satellites, planets, aircraft or other ordinary causes. 122 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Open Explained cases as a timeline
Sightings9 Dec 2025
Through autumn 2025 Vilnius Airport was repeatedly shut as balloons carrying contraband drifted in from Belarus. Lithuanian officials called it part of a hybrid attack, and on Dec. 9, 2025 the government declared a nationwide emergency situation. The objects were identified, not unexplained.
Photo: Trevort Morgondont, CC BY-SA 3.0
Skinwalker Ranch3 Jun 2025
History began the sixth season of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, 14 episodes centered on what the show calls an invisible 'Bubble' anomaly, with drone and radar flights, rocket launches and tests of material found on the mesa. No independent confirmation of its claims has been published.
Photo: Paul from USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
Government29 Apr 2025
AARO published its case resolution and video of an object filmed in October 2017 by an aerostat infrared sensor above Al Taqaddum Air Base, Iraq. It assessed with high confidence that the object was a cluster of inflated balloons with no anomalous performance.
Photo: Cpl. John Baker, Public domain
Sightings19 Feb 2025
Early on February 19, 2025, bright flashes were seen over parts of Poland. The Polish Space Agency said a Falcon 9 rocket stage from a SpaceX Starlink launch had made an uncontrolled reentry, and fragments were later confirmed at four sites near Poznan.
Photo: NASA Headquarters / NASA/Aubrey Gemignani, Public domain
Sightings30 Dec 2024
A red-hot metal ring about 2.5 m across and roughly 500 kg fell into Mukuku village in Makueni County. The Kenya Space Agency recovered it and said preliminary findings showed it was a rocket separation ring; the exact launch was not named.
Photo: Smilymecy, CC BY-SA 4.0
Government19 Nov 2024
At a Senate hearing, AARO released December 2018 infrared drone video that seemed to show an object passing through Mount Etna's eruption plume. AARO said atmospheric distortion caused the effect and assessed with moderate confidence the object was a balloon drifting with the wind.
Photo: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC, Public domain
Government14 Nov 2024
The Pentagon's AARO reported 757 UAP reports received from May 2023 to June 2024, bringing its caseload above 1,600. It resolved 118 cases to balloons, birds, drones and similar objects, and said it had found no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology.
Photo: U.S. Department of Defense, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Public domain
Military7 Dec 2023
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense began listing Chinese balloons crossing the Strait median line in its daily reports, and dozens followed through early 2024, some passing over the island. The ministry generally assessed them as weather balloons and called the launches gray-zone harassment.
Photo: NASA Johnson Space Center, Public domain
Military28 Apr 2023
A balloon at about 36,000 feet was detected near Hawaii and visually checked by F-22s, which described a spherical object. Defense officials said it showed no link to China or another adversary, posed no threat and was not shot down; its owner was never identified.
Sightings15 Apr 2023
A swirling light photographed amid the northern lights over Alaska was explained by University of Alaska Fairbanks physicist Don Hampton as fuel vented by a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage about three hours after a California launch, freezing into ice that caught sunlight.
Photo: United States Air Force photo by Senior Airman Joshua Strang, Public domain
Government17 Feb 2023
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles told Nine's Today show that Defence had advised there had been no balloons like the Chinese one shot down over the U.S. in Australian airspace, and that Australia could track and deal with any such balloon.
Photo: Commonwealth of Australia - Department of Defence, CC BY 4.0
Government16 Feb 2023
After U.S. jets downed three objects over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron, President Biden said they were most likely private or research balloons. He ordered an inventory of airborne objects, better detection and new classified rules on when to shoot.
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Chloe Shanes, Public domain
Government16 Feb 2023
Japan's ruling LDP and Komeito approved a government plan on Feb. 16, 2023 to relax rules on using weapons against unmanned objects violating Japanese airspace. It followed the Defense Ministry's statement that objects seen in 2019-2021 were strongly suspected to be Chinese spy balloons.
Photo: Guilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0
Military16 Feb 2023
Troops on Taiwan's Dongyin island saw an object fall and found balloon wreckage on a shooting range. Markings identified it as a radiosonde made by a Chinese radio factory, and the army called it a weather instrument, amid the U.S.-China spy balloon dispute.
Photo: Datou Jiazu (Flickr), CC BY-SA 2.0
Military14 Feb 2023
After re-analyzing balloon-shaped objects seen over Japan in November 2019, June 2020 and September 2021, Japan's Defense Ministry said they were strongly presumed to be unmanned Chinese reconnaissance balloons. Tokyo protested to Beijing, which objected to the attribution.
Photo: Guilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0
Military14 Feb 2023
Romania's defence ministry said radar picked up a small target resembling a weather balloon at about 11,000 m over the southeast on Feb. 14, 2023. Two NATO-assigned MiG-21 LanceR jets searched for about 30 minutes but found nothing visually or on radar.
Photo: claudiu_ne2000, CC BY-SA 2.0
Government14 Feb 2023
Moldova's civil aviation authority closed the country's airspace for about 80 minutes on Feb. 14, 2023 after the defence ministry reported a small object resembling a weather balloon over the north near Ukraine. Officials said poor weather kept them from identifying or tracking it.
Photo: My_another_account, CC0
Government13 Feb 2023
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Feb. 13, 2023 that U.S. high-altitude balloons had entered China's airspace more than ten times since early 2022. The White House National Security Council called the claim false.
Photo: China News Service, CC BY 3.0
Military10 Feb 2023
Days after downing a Chinese balloon, U.S. fighters shot down unidentified objects off northern Alaska (Feb. 10), over Canada's Yukon (Feb. 11) and over Lake Huron (Feb. 12). President Biden later said they were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research.
Government10 Feb 2023
The Bureau of Industry and Security added six Chinese entities to the Entity List, citing support for PLA aerospace programs including airships and balloons. The rule said the PLA uses high-altitude balloons for intelligence and reconnaissance.
Photo: U.S. Department of Commerce, Public domain
Government9 Feb 2023
The House passed H.Res. 104, sponsored by Rep. Michael McCaul, 419-0. It condemned the Chinese government's high-altitude surveillance balloon as a brazen violation of U.S. sovereignty and asked for briefings on past airspace intrusions.
Photo: U.S. House of Representatives - Office of the Clerk, Public domain
Government9 Feb 2023
At a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing, Pentagon official Melissa Dalton said Chinese balloons had briefly crossed the U.S. at least three times under the prior administration. Officials said they waited to shoot over water to limit risk from debris.
Photo: Leonard Fitzgerald, Public domain
Government9 Feb 2023
A senior U.S. official said Chinese balloons had passed over more than 40 countries, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the balloon downed off South Carolina was part of a surveillance program spanning five continents, run by a PLA reconnaissance unit.
Photo: U.S. Department of State, Public domain
Military6 Feb 2023
Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and Northern Command, told reporters that earlier Chinese balloon flights over the U.S. had not been detected in real time, calling it a domain awareness gap; intelligence found them afterward. A U.S. official said the UAP review helped identify the program.
Photo: U.S. Northern Command, Public domain
Military4 Feb 2023
An F-22 from Langley AFB downed a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon about six miles off South Carolina after it crossed the continental U.S. The episode preceded the shootdowns of three more objects later that month.
Photo: U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tyler Thompson, Public domain
