An experimental balloon believed to have been carrying a six-year-old boy landed in Colorado Thursday after floating for more than an hour watched by people across the nation. Images of the silver, mushroom-shaped craft were shown by Denver television station KUSA, as it sped through the sky at altitudes of up to two kilometers (7,000 feet) and at some points hurtling toward the earth.
CNN television quoting local police said that the missing boy was not found inside the experimental craft after it landed. Local police said the boy, Falcon Heene and his father, Richard Heene, were working on the craft in the family's backyard when the boy was believed to have climbed into a plywood enclosed structure beneath the balloon. The father said the craft was hovering above the ground, but slipped its rope tethers. A radar gun had reportedly clocked the craft travelling at 25 miles (40 kilometers) per hour in heart-stopping images which captured the nation's attention.