On Feb. 4, an F-22 Raptor fighter jet shot down the recently infamously dubbed “Chinese surveillance balloon” with a missile four days after it had been spotted entering United States airspace for the second time.

It was decided that U.S. officials would wait for the balloon to be over the ocean before shooting it as President Joe Biden had wanted and ordered. Biden decided that the balloon wasn’t any kind of threat, so he left the balloon to float until it was above U.S. waters. Many questioned his choice, especially considering that the balloon had already been in Alaskan airspace, but Biden persisted in waiting until it was over the ocean to shoot it down, which ended up happening.

This isn’t the first time a Chinese balloon has flown over U.S. soil before, with similar situations occurring three times during former President Donald Trump’s presidency, but none reaching the public so greatly or staying as long in the sky as this most recent one, according to NewScientist.

Flying objects being shot down in national airspace haven’t stopped since the takedown of the Chinese surveillance balloon either; the U.S. military has continued doing so in both America and Canada, and so far, three more unidentified flying objects have been spotted in North American airspace. Fortunately, President Biden assured that these UFOs have no connections to space aliens as some people have theorized.

“A high-altitude object was shot down near Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, marking the fourth time in just over a week that the US military has taken down objects in North American airspace,” CNN said. “There’s no indication at this point that the unidentified objects have any connection to China’s surveillance balloon, but it seems that national security officials across the continent remain on edge.”

The Chinese balloon specifically has reached millions, especially young people, more than any other flying object in recent times, with TikTokers and Instagram users making memes and posts regarding the balloon’s “death” in an ironic, satirical tone. Videos and live streams of the balloon and its death have also reached millions of people, with one TikTok user even streaming the balloon being shot down in real-time on a TikTok LIVE stream from South Carolina.

“When they shot it down, it was a beautiful sound. I think we stood up for ourselves a little bit too late,” Chicagoan and TikTok user Dave Doyle (@davedoyle8) said in a TikTok live stream. “It’s almost like waiting for the bully to shake you upside down and take all your change out of your pocket, and then you want to say something. Nonetheless, I think shooting it down sends a message. [We need to start] sending a message to these countries that we’re not just gonna be pushed around.”

A classified briefing was held by the U.S. Senate on Feb. 14 regarding the UFOs, including the Chinese surveillance balloon. After the briefing, Alaskan Senator Dan Sullivan was interviewed and he had this to say:

“We have to fix our domain awareness challenges,” Sullivan said. “We have to have systems and capabilities that can pick up a slow-moving balloon, that can pick up a hypersonic missile that’s traveling…8, 9 times the speed of sound.”

Many of Niles North’s students and staff members have also been keeping up on the news of the balloon, especially the social studies teachers.

“Is it [the Chinese balloon and the program behind it] a threat to the existence of America?” Social Studies teacher Aaron Minkus said. “No. Is it a threat to our sovereignty as an independent nation? Absolutely. If you believe in statehood, countries have borders and boundaries, and those are internationally recognized…and when countries violate that purposely, that is a threat to our national security. One hundred percent, I think that this is going to happen again.”

As objects keep flying over North America, the U.S. stands by in caution with people waiting and guns pointed. It is not entirely known when another balloon will be spotted, but with the multitude of them that have been spotted over the past two weeks, the next balloon might be coming soon. Everyone will have to wait and hope that these airborne devices won’t open fire on the U.S. in retaliation.