Pilot Made $400K Misfire Shooting at Object in Sky

Four words you don't want to hear in regard to a US fighter pilot launching a missile at a mystery object in the skies above the US: "The first shot missed." On Tuesday, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley acknowledged that the first Sidewinder missile fired Sunday at the object floating above Lake Huron in Michigan missed the mark, reports the Washington Post. Fortunately, the errant shot went harmlessly into the lake. A second missile then took down the still-unidentified object.

Milley confirmed an earlier report by Fox News about the missed shot. It's no small thing: Each Sidewinder missile costs more than $400,000, notes Fox. US officials previously described the object above Lake Huron as roughly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. By contrast, the Chinese balloon shot down days earlier was about the size of three buses. Meanwhile, the hunt for debris continues in the lake, as well as at the locations of three other shootdowns, to better answer the questions of what the objects were and where they came from. (More US Air Force stories.)