Episode 113: Media Dimwits Strike Again 02-03- 20-23“Chinese Balloon Appears‘steerable’…” - a podcast by John MaGuirk

Sorry, Charlie StarKist wants tuna which tastes good, not tuna with good taste.
Balloons are not steerable because they lack “power”. That’s a Zeppelin or a blimp, sometimes called an airship.
In terms of “steering” balloons may ascend or descend — they are entirely at the mercy of the wind current.
P.S. It was the Japanese during WW-II who discovered that phenomenon which we call The Jet Stream. They launch paper balloons to float to the United States in hopes of igniting forest fires in the Pacific Northwest.
As to “shooting it down”, this would be extraordinarily difficult, because of the amorphous mass of any balloon-like object. The higher a balloon goes — the larger it gets. The “gondola” or basket suspended beneath would certainly fall to earth and would not burn up as a space capsule would. 
That the Chinese balloon made it to the Dakotas is a tribute to their superior technology vs the Japanese.

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