First photos of US Navy's retrieval of Chinese spy balloon wreckage

image: US Fleet Forces/Twitter

The US Navy released the first photos of its operation to retrieve the wreckage of the Chinese spy balloon aka the "civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes" (according to China), off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The US Air Force shot down the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, these photos don't show the good stuff. And by "good stuff," I mean whatever the balloon was carrying that has everyone so upset. The balloon was around 200 feet tall, about four times the size of the Snoopy balloon that flies in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

image: US Fleet Forces/Twitter
image: US Fleet Forces/Twitter
image: US Fleet Forces/Twitter

(NBC News)