Mark Kelly's spy balloon company funded by China Communist Party

Did Mark Kelly’s Ambition Boost China’s Balloon Fleet?

Before his tenure as a senator from Arizona, Kelly had an illustrious career as an astronaut and co-founder of World View, a company initially dedicated to space tourism.

However, recent reports indicate that Kelly's entrepreneurial focus shifted from celestial exploration to more terrestrial concerns.

Before serving on both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Kelly launched a business that manufactures surveillance balloons. Notably, one of the company's significant investors has deep ties to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).

Axios reported that shortly after World View was started, it received venture capital from Tencent in 2013, then again in 2016.

Tencent is one of China's largest corporations, and it was founded in 1998 by “Pony” Ma Huateng, Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan and Zeng Liqing. Last year, “Pony” Ma Huateng was listed by Forbes as the fourth-richest man in China with a net worth of $32.1 billion. Ma is also the CEO of Tencent.

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