Its power was 3,300 times greater than that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The episode occurred at the height of international tensions.
He positioned himself as the largest man-made explosion in history and it is claimed that its power was 3,300 times more destructive than that of the atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima August 6, 1945.
On the morning of October 30, 1961, the Soviet Union dropped “the Tsar’s bomb” .
The person responsible for leading the operation was Commander Andrei Durnovstev while its crew was made up of volunteers.
The location chosen to launch the hydrogen bomb was a testing area military located in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, in the Arctic Circle .
It happened in the middle of the period of Cold war (1947-1989)
At that time, In October 1961, the USSR was led by Nikita Khrushchev and USA It was chaired by John F. Kennedy .
Tensions at that time were a climax .
Why the Soviet Union dropped the “Tsar Bomb”
Different international analysts have stated that “The Tsar’s bomb” – which had no war objective in its sights – was dropped by the USSR for propaganda reasons. in order to counter the influence of the United States.
“It was designed, first and foremost, to get the world to sit up and take the Soviet Union on an equal footing.” wrote former US nuclear testing chief under President Bill Clinton, Philip Coyle, years later as he was being rescued Infobae .
The year the bomb was dropped, 1961 was a period of multiple events of global importance.
In April, The CIA planned a Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, which failed .
During that same month , The USSR put the first human being into Earth’s orbit cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in an episode that marked a milestone in the so-called space race.
On the other hand, In the early hours of August 12 and 13, 1961, construction of the Berlin Wall began. (Germany), an act presented as a physical symbol of the ideological division that existed at that time.
Nearly two months have passed since this last event for the USSR led by Khrushchev to finalize the launching of “the Tsar’s bomb” on October 30 .
Why was “the Tsar’s bomb” so named?
It is claimed that the hydrogen bomb It received this name in reference to two representative elements of the Soviets. according to the aforementioned media.
These are the imperial cannon of Tsar Pushka and the bell of Tsar Kolokol in Moscow which is considered the largest in the world and weighs more than 200 tons.
During the development of the project, he was appointed “Ivan”, in honor of the first Russian tsar .
What was the “Tsar Bomb” dropped by the Soviet Union?
“The Tsar’s Bomb” had 8 meters long, a diameter of almost 2.6 meters and a weight of more than 27 tonnes according to the data retrieved by the BBC .
Its form was similar to that of “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”. that the United States launched against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
The power of the Soviet explosive was 3,300 times bigger than the bomb that hit the first Japanese city mentioned.
In the same way, we ensure that It had the power of 50 million tons of conventional explosives. .
What was the explosion of the USSR’s “Tsar’s bomb”?
The bomb was launched at an altitude of 10,500 meters at 11:30 a.m. (Moscow time), while its detonation took place at around 4,000 meters. .
The latter occurred around 11:32 a.m. and, according to the BBCin a moment created a fireball 8 kilometers wide and its own shockwave propelled it upwards .
The flash caused visible at a distance of 1,000 kilometers .
Furthermore, The mushroom cloud from the explosion reached 64 kilometers high and spread over nearly 100 kilometers. .
To launch A modified TU-95 aircraft was used, while the bomb was dropped with a parachute. so the plane had time to move away from the explosion.
What consequences did the explosion of the “Tsar’s bomb” cause?
Even if the launching of the “Tsar’s bomb” had no military aim against a specific target, Its explosion generated consequences in neighboring towns .
Information collected by the BBC They detail this, In the village of Severny, located about 55 kilometers from the impact site, all the houses were destroyed. .
Other Soviet districts located hundreds of kilometers from the explosion zone suffered damage ranging from submerged houses and collapsed roofs to broken windows and doors.
At the same time, for more than an hour, radio communications were interrupted .
However, according to the aforementioned media, The amount of radiation was considerably small despite the scale of the operation since the fireball did not have direct contact with the Earth.
Who is the physicist who helped develop the “Tsar Bomb” and later received the Nobel Peace Prize?
One of the scientists who contributed to the development of the “Tsar Bomb” was Andrei Sakharov .
Previously, the physicist had worked on the first Soviet hydrogen bomb on a megaton scale through a concept known as “Sakharov’s Third Idea”.
The device It was tested as the RDS-37 in November 1955 and paved the way for what would years later become the destructive “Tsar Bomb”. in 1961.
However, over time, Sakharov began to position himself as an activist against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and atomic tests in the atmosphere.
His efforts in this area have earned him received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, even though he was already considered a “dissident” by the USSR authorities .
In the official page of the organization declares that recognition has been granted “for his struggle for human rights in the Soviet Union, for disarmament and cooperation among all nations” .
“The father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, Andrei Sakharov, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 for his opposition to abuses of power and his work in favor of human rights. The leaders of the Soviet Union reacted with fury and refused Sakharov permission to travel to Oslo to receive the prize. . His wife, Jelena Bonner, received it on his behalf,” one section of the site reads.
And he continues: “Sakharov was subsequently deprived of all his Soviet honorary titles and the couple were under strict surveillance for several years. in the town of Gorky “.
“It was only when (Mikhail) Gorbachev came to power in 1985 they were allowed to return to Moscow “.
What are the secret images of the “Tsar bomb” revealed by Russia?
In August 2020, Russia released previously classified images of the explosion of the “Tsar’s bomb”.
The recordings were captured from different angles with the support of cameras installed on the ground and on board two Soviet planes as shown Reuters SO.
The Russian nuclear agency Rosatom published them for the first time andas part of the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Russian atomic industry .
You can consult part of these recordings below in this note .
Source: Latercera
I am David Jack and I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years. As an experienced journalist, I specialize in covering sports news with a focus on golf. My articles have been published by some of the most respected publications in the world including The New York Times and Sports Illustrated.
