On May 23, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held its first Waikōloa Maneuver Area’s Restoration Advisory Board meeting of the year and had good news that no munitions were found in the Puʻukapu development project area.
“Despite our best efforts to navigate the balloons to land and recover them, both flights had to be terminated over the Pacific Ocean and unfortunately recovery was not feasible,” Sierra Nevada Corporation said in an email to Big Island Now.
The aerial anomaly was no soaring cephalopod. It also wasn’t a Chinese spy balloon or Batman looking for his parking spot, as suggested in other social media posts and replies. The reality behind the object’s appearance that spurred all the chatter is far less imaginative than scientific.