The Pentagon recovers all the remains of the downed balloon and reaffirms its analysis that it spied for China

By Tara Copp and Lolita C. Baldor —

Federal authorities have finished their efforts to recover the remains of the balloon shot down earlier this month off the coast of South Carolina, and their analysis bolsters conclusions that it was a

federal sources said Friday. Administration to The Associated Press news agency.

The Pentagon Northern Command said in a statement that recovery operations ended on Thursday and that the last pieces are on their way to the FBI laboratory in Virginia.

Air and sea restrictions have been lifted in South Carolina.

Sources consulted by The Associated Press indicated that the balloon's wreckage included key equipment from the payload that could reveal the information it was able to monitor and collect.

Sailors prepare material recovered off the coast of Myrtle Beach from the downing of the balloon for transport to the FBI, at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach on February 10.Ryan Seelbach / Maria US via AP

The announcement capped three weeks of work after fighter jets shot down four aerial objects: the large Chinese balloon on February 4 and three smaller objects a week later over Canada, Alaska and Lake Huron.

These are the first known shootdowns of unauthorized objects in US airspace in peacetime.

The officials consulted, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the search for the small aerial object that was shot down over Lake Huron has stopped, and nothing has been recovered.

The United States and Canada have not yet recovered remains of the other two downed objects either.

The Pentagon believes that the balloon downed off South Carolina was a surveillance aircraft operated by China, but the administration led by Joe Biden has admitted that the other three objects were probably civilian balloons that were shot down after National Defense radars were recalibrated to detect slower moving airborne objects.

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Due to their small size and the remote areas in which they were shot down, authorities acknowledge that recovery of the wreckage is difficult and probably unlikely.

However, these last two searches have not been officially suspended.

Much of the Chinese balloon fell to about 50 feet (15 meters) in the water, and the Navy was able to pick up debris floating on the surface, with divers and unmanned naval vessels pulling up the remainder from the ocean floor.

The Northern Command reported Friday that all Navy and Coast Guard ships had left the area.

Biden tasked National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday with leading an interagency team to set "higher standards" for tracking, monitoring and potentially shooting down unknown aerial objects.

Meanwhile, key questions about the Chinese balloon remain unanswered,

it was able to pick up while flying over sensitive military areas in the United States, and whether it was able to transmit anything to China.

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The United States tracked it for several days after it left China, said a US official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

According to what he said, he deviated from his initial trajectory, which was towards the US territory of Guam, and flew over the continental United States.

Balloons and other unidentified objects have previously been sighted over Guam, a strategic hub for the US Navy and Air Force in the Western Pacific.

It's unclear how much control China had over the globe once it deviated from its original trajectory.

Another official said the balloon could have been maneuvered from abroad or directed at a specific target, but it's unclear if China did it.