The above photo was received by UFOON on Sunday, May 27, 2007

The sender, who is also the author of the photo, is Jeroen Eefting, a resident from the city of Groningen located in the northern part of The Netherlands. Jeroen added the following comment:

SOURCE: CAELESTIA A Research Initiative for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

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Evaluation

Soon after receipt of the report, an investigator of UWN called the police in Groningen. Surprisingly, the female officer who answered the phone replied that she had seen the same thing that same Sunday. She added that there was no doubt that the object was a balloon, adding that there had been a balloon festival on that particular afternoon on the grounds of the city's soccer field.

Further inquiries learned that a special-shape balloon looking like a flying saucer had indeed taken off during the first edition of "Ballon Fiësta", an event organized by the community of Groningen in collaboration with the local soccer club VELOCITAS 1897. 

SOURCE: CAELESTIA A Research Initiative for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

Police in Fort Collins, Colorado are desperately attempting to save a 6-year-old boy who floated away in a 20-foot homemade balloon. Officials are figuring out how to remove the boy, stranded in the sky, without "ripping the balloon to shreds."

The child reportedly crawled into his parent's experimental balloon, untied it, and took off 
earlier this morning. As of right now the balloon is about 40 miles North of Denver, but the aircraft was built to go higher. It's terrifying and horrible, and our hearts go out to the little boy. Let's hope the authorities figure something out.

Watch it live here.

UPDATE: The National Guard is involved and the balloon has landed, story developing. MSNBC is reporting on the live stream that authorities have not found a body inside the balloon. The child has been identified as Falcon Heene. No one is sure if he has fallen out, or if Falcon was even in the balloon from the beginning. The boy went missing this morning and hasn't been seen. His brother was the one who reported that Falcon was inside the small basket of the balloon.

SOURCE: io9 News

Related Links:

• UFO Balloon Lands With Still No Sign Of Missing Boy

Reuters News
By Keith Coffman
DENVER | Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:22pm EDT

DENVER (Reuters Life!) - A 6-year-old boy who set off a massive search and rescue operation and media frenzy after it was reported he was inside a homemade helium balloon that broke loose and drifted for hours thousands of feet above Colorado has been found safe in his attic, police said on Thursday.

Falcon Heene was discovered hiding in a box in his family's attic, hours after the circular silver contraption had deflated and landed softly in a dirt field, Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden said.

"Apparently, he's been there the whole time, hiding in a box, a cardboard box, in an attic above the garage," Alderden told reporters.

The boy's 9-year-old brother had reported seeing him climb inside the balloon, which was built by his amateur scientist father and resembled a "flying saucer" spacecraft, before it floated away from the family's home in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The story was quickly picked up by U.S. cable networks, which broadcast live footage of the odd airship for two hours as it soared some 50 miles east across Colorado, trailed by U.S. National Guard helicopters.

Authorities had reportedly considered desperate measures to somehow bring down the balloon safely and, after discovering that Falcon was not inside, had begun scouring the countryside for any sign of him.

It was not immediately clear why Falcon's brother believed he was inside the apparatus or how he was ultimately discovered in the attic

Falcon's father, Richard Heene, was described as a storm chaser and amateur scientist who had involved his entire family in his activities.

The family also participated in the ABC-TV reality show "Wife Swap," in which families switch mothers to deal with family problems.

On its website, ABC described the Heene family as devoting their time to "scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm."

Aviation experts said the boy could have survived the flight, but questioned whether such a small craft could have supported the weight of the boy and compartment for long.

(Writing by Dan Whitcomb; editing by Todd Eastham)

SOURCE: Reuters News

Designed to be an elaborate April Fool's Day stunt, Richard Branson and Don Cameron brought London to a stand still with a special shaped UFO hot air balloon.

Built by Cameron Balloons Limited in Bristol, using the code name "Project Wedgewood", only a handful of people new about the project. The balloon took off in complete darkness with various strobe lights flashing and flew over the M25 - it landed safely, just as the sun was rising. The stunt created massive media coverage for Virgin Galactic Airways!

SOURCE: airshipandballoon.com/