Tag: Nuclear

• Podcast

9th November 1979: A computer error at NORAD reports that the USSR had fired hundreds of nuclear missiles at the USA

• 9th November 2023
• Tagged as: America, Atomic Bomb, Cold War, Missile, NORAD, Nuclear, Soviet Union, United States, USA, USSR

When news of the incident reached the Soviet Union, party leader Leonid Brezhnev wrote to Carter condemning the ‘tremendous danger’ caused by the error.

• Podcast

26th September 1983: Nuclear war avoided after Soviet detection system wrongly identifies incoming ballistic missile

• 26th September 2023
• Tagged as: Atomic Bomb, Cold War, Nuclear, Nuclear War, Satellite, Soviet Union, Technology, United States, USA, USSR, War

Nuclear war was avoided when Russian officer Stanislav Petrov rejected early warning system reports of incoming ballistic missiles as a false alarm.

• Podcast

23rd September 1949: President Truman announces the USSR’s first nuclear test

• 23rd September 2023
• Tagged as: America, Atomic Bomb, Cold War, Manhattan Project, Nuclear, Science, Technology, Truman, United States, USA, USSR

‘The eventual development of this new force by other nations was to be expected. This probability has always been taken into account by us’.

• Podcast

29th August 1949: USSR successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon, codenamed RDS-1 and nicknamed First Lightning

• 29th August 2023
• Tagged as: America, Atomic Bomb, Cold War, Communism, Manhattan Project, Nuclear, Science, Soviet Union, Technology, USA, USSR, War

The explosion had the power of 22 kilotons of TNT, and was 50% more destructive than its designers had expected.

• Podcast

16th July 1945: USA detonates the first nuclear bomb under the codename ‘Trinity’

• 16th July 2023
• Tagged as: America, Atomic, Nucl, Nuclear, Second World War, Truman, United States, USA

The explosion was equivalent to about 20 kilotons of TNT, and the blast-wave was felt by civilians up to 160 miles away.

• Podcast

5th July 1946: The bikini swimsuit introduced four days after a Bikini Atoll atomic test

• 5th July 2023
• Tagged as: Atomic Bomb, Bikini, Bikini Atoll, Fashion, France, Nuclear, Swimsuit

The bikini swimsuit was introduced for the first time, four days after an atomic test at the Bikini Atoll.

• Podcast

5th February 1958: Nuclear bomb lost off Tybee Island in Georgia, USA after an in-air collision

• 5th February 2023
• Tagged as: Atomic Bomb, Cold War, Nuclear, USA

An American Mark 15 thermonuclear bomb was lost off Tybee Island near Savannah, Georgia following an in-air collision.

• Podcast

3rd February 1961: Operation Looking Glass begins its 29-year Cold War flight above the USA

• 3rd February 2023
• Tagged as: Aircraft, Atomic Bomb, Cold War, Nuclear, USA, USSR

Operation Looking Glass began flying an Airborne Command Post above the United States 24 hours a day.

• Podcast

30th October 1961: The Tsar Bomba detonated by the USSR

• 30th October 2022
• Tagged as: Atomic Bomb, Cold War, Explosion, Khrushchev, Nuclear, Tsar Bomba, USSR

The Tsar Bomba, the most powerful explosive weapon ever created, was detonated by the USSR.

• Podcast

14th October 1962: U-2 spy plane captures images of Cuban missile sites

• 14th October 2022
• Tagged as: Castro, Cold War, Cuba, Cuban Missile Crisis, Khrushchev, Missile, Nuclear, Spying, U-2, USA

A U-2 spy plane captured images of the construction of a missile site on Cuba, triggering the Cuban Missile Crisis.