A Chinese surveillance balloon was visible as it flew over Missouri on Friday. According to the “Missouri Independent”  the Pentagon press secretary confirmed midday Friday that the balloon was over the center of the United States and people could look up and see it.  The balloon did not pose a “physical or military risk to people on the ground,” said Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary. The Pentagon confirmed Thursday that the U.S. had detected and begun tracking the balloon, which was traveling at a high altitude, “well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground,” according to Ryder.