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Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
National
Sun-Times Wire

Illinois hobbyist group says its balloon went missing the same day U.S. military shot down unknown object over Alaska

Illinois Alaska
A pico balloon floats in the air over Tennessee last year. An Illinois hobbyist group says its pico balloon stopped sending transmissions last Saturday, the same day the U.S. shot down an unidentified object over Alaska. / Tom Medlin via AP

An Illinois hobbyist group declared one of its pico balloons as “Missing in Action” last Saturday — around the same time a U.S. military fighter jet shot down an unknown object in the same region where the small balloon was last heard from.

The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB) said it received the last transmission from the pico balloon K9YO when it was near Hagemeister Island, off the southwest coast of Alaska.

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