US spy plane pilot takes selfie with China balloon at 60,000 feet

In a handout image provided by the Department of Defense, a US Air Force U-2 pilot looks down at the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon on Feb 3, 2023, as it hovers over the Central Continental United States. Recovery efforts began shortly after the balloon was downed. — US Department of Defense/Getty Images/TNS

The US Air Force pilot glances back as a camera focuses on the white airship floating below – a Chinese balloon on a flight across the US that not only worsened already fraught Beijing-Washington relations but touched off a political firestorm for the Biden administration.

The photo, taken Feb 3 from the cockpit of a U-2 spy plane and released by the Defense Department on Feb 22, quickly blazed across social media platforms and the Internet, labeled a high-altitude “selfie”.