Arizona Democrat Who Founded Weather Balloon Firm With Chinese Investment Says We Shouldn’t Shoot Down “Weather Balloons”

Senator Mark KellyThe stratosphere exploration company was co-founded by a former astronaut, and a member the Armed Services Committee. World View Which has received investment from the Chinese tech giant Tencent HoldingsAs the Arizona Democratic recently stated, the government shouldn’t be shooting down “weather balloons.”

RealClearPolitics, “Kelly himself has first-hand knowledge of China’s investments in near-space balloon technology” Co-founded the company in 2012 with his brother, who later received investment from Tencent.

Tencent, the owners and operators of WeChat texting app, has been accused of spying on the CCP. They have also seen international bans for evidence that it has collected data both inside and outside China. “Kelly was instrumental in securing the first Tencent investment,” Reports a href=”https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/02/24/did_us_firms_help_propel_chinas_balloon_fleet_148906.html”>RealClearPolitics. 

Website features video of balloon technology being used to launch payloads into space. World View offered space tourism for $75,000, where a helium balloon could propel a capsule into space. This balloon technology is called “stratollite,” By 2015, it had moved from space tourism to NASA contracting. It was repurposed to image the earth at higher resolutions than other satellites.

Claudia Kelly (the senator’s eldest child) worked as World View’s business opportunity manager, and Senator Kelly was employed at the company as a strategy advisor until 2019, when he launched the senate campaign.

RealClearPolitics reports, “According to his 2019-2021 financial disclosure report and amendments filed with the Senate as required, he maintained a $100,000-$250,000 financial stake in the company.”

Kelly has flipped his financial assets to a blind trust 2021, so it is not clear how much his current investment is worth.

The US military will be closing down on February 5, Downed You can find more information at Chinese surveillance balloon After it had traversed large swathes of the United States continental continent, the balloon was found in the Atlantic Ocean. Chinese officials claimed that it was a civilian weather balloon, which had lost its way.

According To the Associated PressKelly had earlier said this during the week. “I don’t think we want to get into the business of launching AIM-9Xs — at $400,000 a pop — at weather balloons”

“It would really help the Defense Department to be able to sort out what is civilian science payload, what’s a weather balloon, what’s a NASA balloon, what’s a private company in the United States doing, what might be even a US military,” Kelly was also mentioned.

Three other unidentified US surveillance balloons were taken down by the US in the week following the Chinese surveillance balloon’s downing. High altitude objectOver North American airspace, which could have been civilian vessels.

Kelly received a $5,000 donation in 2020 from Tencent’s chief executive officer for exploration, David Wallerstein.