Posted on Aug 29, 2018
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At a remote test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, the USSR successfully detonates its first atomic bomb, code name “First Lightning.” In order to measure the effects of the blast, the Soviet scientists constructed buildings, bridges, and other civilian structures in the vicinity of the bomb. They also placed animals in cages nearby so that they could test the effects of nuclear radiation on human-like mammals. The atomic explosion, which at 20 kilotons was roughly equal to “Trinity,” the first U.S. atomic explosion, destroyed those structures and incinerated the animals.
According to legend, the Soviet physicists who worked on the bomb were honored for the achievement based on the penalties they would have suffered had the test failed. Those who would have been executed by the Soviet government if the bomb had failed to detonate were honored as “Heroes of Socialist Labor,” and those who would have been merely imprisoned were given “The Order of Lenin,” a slightly less prestigious award.
On September 3, a U.S. spy plane flying off the coast of Siberia picked up the first evidence of radioactivity from the explosion. Later that month, President Harry S. Truman announced to the American people that the Soviets too had the bomb. Three months later, Klaus Fuchs, a German-born physicist who had helped the United States build its first atomic bombs, was arrested for passing nuclear secrets to the Soviets. While stationed at U.S. atomic development headquarters during World War II, Fuchs had given the Soviets precise information about the U.S. atomic program, including a blueprint of the “Fat Man” atomic bomb later dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, and everything the Los Alamos scientists knew about the hypothesized hydrogen bomb. The revelations of Fuchs’ espionage, coupled with the loss of U.S. atomic supremacy, led President Truman to order development of the hydrogen bomb, a weapon theorized to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
On November 1, 1952, the United States successfully detonated “Mike,” the world’s first hydrogen bomb, on the Elugelab Atoll in the Pacific Marshall Islands. The 10.4-megaton thermonuclear device instantly vaporized an entire island and left behind a crater more than a mile wide. Three years later, on November 22, 1955, the Soviet Union detonated its first hydrogen bomb on the same principle of radiation implosion. Both superpowers were now in possession of the so-called “superbomb,” and the world lived under the threat of thermonuclear war for the first time in history.
According to legend, the Soviet physicists who worked on the bomb were honored for the achievement based on the penalties they would have suffered had the test failed. Those who would have been executed by the Soviet government if the bomb had failed to detonate were honored as “Heroes of Socialist Labor,” and those who would have been merely imprisoned were given “The Order of Lenin,” a slightly less prestigious award.
On September 3, a U.S. spy plane flying off the coast of Siberia picked up the first evidence of radioactivity from the explosion. Later that month, President Harry S. Truman announced to the American people that the Soviets too had the bomb. Three months later, Klaus Fuchs, a German-born physicist who had helped the United States build its first atomic bombs, was arrested for passing nuclear secrets to the Soviets. While stationed at U.S. atomic development headquarters during World War II, Fuchs had given the Soviets precise information about the U.S. atomic program, including a blueprint of the “Fat Man” atomic bomb later dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, and everything the Los Alamos scientists knew about the hypothesized hydrogen bomb. The revelations of Fuchs’ espionage, coupled with the loss of U.S. atomic supremacy, led President Truman to order development of the hydrogen bomb, a weapon theorized to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
On November 1, 1952, the United States successfully detonated “Mike,” the world’s first hydrogen bomb, on the Elugelab Atoll in the Pacific Marshall Islands. The 10.4-megaton thermonuclear device instantly vaporized an entire island and left behind a crater more than a mile wide. Three years later, on November 22, 1955, the Soviet Union detonated its first hydrogen bomb on the same principle of radiation implosion. Both superpowers were now in possession of the so-called “superbomb,” and the world lived under the threat of thermonuclear war for the first time in history.
Soviets explode atomic bomb - Aug 29, 1949 - HISTORY.com
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29th August 1949: USSR conducts its first atomic bomb test
On the 29th August 1949, the Soviet Union successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon codenamed RDS-1 and nicknamed First Lightning. The explosion had th...
Thank you my friend TSgt Joe C. for reminding us that on August 29, 1949 at a remote test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, the USSR successfully detonated its first atomic bomb, code name “First Lightning.”
In order to measure the effects of the blast, the Soviet scientists constructed buildings, bridges, and other civilian structures in the vicinity of the bomb and placed animals in cages nearby so that they could test the effects of nuclear radiation on human-like mammals.
Images:
1. RDS-1, the first of 456 Soviet nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site
2. Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov, "Father of the Soviet Atomic Bomb"
3. Crater at the Semipalatinsk Test Site
Background from ctbto.org/specials/testing-times/29-august-1949-first-soviet-nuclear-test
"29 AUGUST 1949 - FIRST SOVIET NUCLEAR TEST
On 29 August 1949, the Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test, code-named 'RDS-1', at the Semipalatinsk test site in modern-day Kazakhstan. The device had a yield of 22 kilotons.
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 had prompted Joseph Stalin to order the development of nuclear weapons within five years. The young nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov was charged with leading this project.
It was no coincidence that the RDS-1-device bore a close resemblance to the U.S. ‘Fat Man’ bomb dropped on Nagasaki, as Soviet espionage had managed to obtain details about the U.S. Manhattan Project and the ‘Trinity’ test on 16 July 1945. The Soviet device was therefore also a plutonium-based implosion device.
The fallout from the nuclear test drifted to the northeast, reaching the region of Altai Krai. Traces from it were also detected by the United States, altering it to the fact that its monopoly on nuclear weapons had been broken, which was public confirmed by U.S. President Truman on 23 September 1949 and a day later by the Soviet Union itself.
Within a few years, the Cold War nuclear arms race was at full steam. In 1951, the United States exploded the first thermonuclear device in the ‘George’ test, to be followed two more years later by the Soviet Union with the RDS-6 test. Until the end of the Cold War, the United States would conduct 1,032 nuclear tests, the Soviet Union 715.
The Soviet Union conducted 456 of its tests at the Semipalatinsk test site, with severe consequences for the local population, including high cancer rates, genetic defects and deformations in babies. Read more on the effects of Soviet nuclear testing.
After its independence from the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan closed the test site on 29 August 1991, exactly 42 years after RDS-1. On the initiative of Kazakhstan, the United Nations proclaimed 29 August as the International Day against Nuclear Tests in 2009."
29th August 1949: USSR conducts its first atomic bomb test
"On the 29th August 1949, the Soviet Union successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon codenamed RDS-1 and nicknamed First Lightning. The explosion had the power of 22 kilotons of TNT, and was 50% more destructive than its designers had expected.
The USSR started its nuclear program in 1943 after discovering the USA, Britain and Canada had begun bomb development. Assisted by intelligence from sources inside the USA’s Manhattan Project, the Soviet Union’s program developed quickly as the Soviets were able to replicate American successes while avoiding some of their costlier mistakes. Consequently, although the majority of Cold War academics accept that the USSR’s success had a lot to do with domestic expertise they recognise that intelligence helped to reduce the time it took for them to develop the bomb.
Work was accelerated after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in secret, purpose-built cities dedicated to the nuclear program known as Atomgrads. By 1949 the Soviets had developed two types of bomb, but opted to detonate the simpler of the two designs first since it was similar in design to the successful Fat Man bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki.
The RDS-1 test was conducted in secret in an attempt to avoid the USA increasing its own nuclear program, but the US Air Force began to detect radioactive fallout from the explosion a few days later and tracked the trail. Soviet success had occurred up to 4 years ahead of Western estimates, and the knowledge that the USSR now had ‘the bomb’ dramatically increased tensions in the early years of the Cold War."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQOZp4ThymU
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown CMSgt (Join to see) MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Charles H. Hawes SGT Mark Halmrast PO1 William "Chip" Nagel CPT Gabe SnellLTC Greg Henning
In order to measure the effects of the blast, the Soviet scientists constructed buildings, bridges, and other civilian structures in the vicinity of the bomb and placed animals in cages nearby so that they could test the effects of nuclear radiation on human-like mammals.
Images:
1. RDS-1, the first of 456 Soviet nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site
2. Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov, "Father of the Soviet Atomic Bomb"
3. Crater at the Semipalatinsk Test Site
Background from ctbto.org/specials/testing-times/29-august-1949-first-soviet-nuclear-test
"29 AUGUST 1949 - FIRST SOVIET NUCLEAR TEST
On 29 August 1949, the Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test, code-named 'RDS-1', at the Semipalatinsk test site in modern-day Kazakhstan. The device had a yield of 22 kilotons.
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 had prompted Joseph Stalin to order the development of nuclear weapons within five years. The young nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov was charged with leading this project.
It was no coincidence that the RDS-1-device bore a close resemblance to the U.S. ‘Fat Man’ bomb dropped on Nagasaki, as Soviet espionage had managed to obtain details about the U.S. Manhattan Project and the ‘Trinity’ test on 16 July 1945. The Soviet device was therefore also a plutonium-based implosion device.
The fallout from the nuclear test drifted to the northeast, reaching the region of Altai Krai. Traces from it were also detected by the United States, altering it to the fact that its monopoly on nuclear weapons had been broken, which was public confirmed by U.S. President Truman on 23 September 1949 and a day later by the Soviet Union itself.
Within a few years, the Cold War nuclear arms race was at full steam. In 1951, the United States exploded the first thermonuclear device in the ‘George’ test, to be followed two more years later by the Soviet Union with the RDS-6 test. Until the end of the Cold War, the United States would conduct 1,032 nuclear tests, the Soviet Union 715.
The Soviet Union conducted 456 of its tests at the Semipalatinsk test site, with severe consequences for the local population, including high cancer rates, genetic defects and deformations in babies. Read more on the effects of Soviet nuclear testing.
After its independence from the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan closed the test site on 29 August 1991, exactly 42 years after RDS-1. On the initiative of Kazakhstan, the United Nations proclaimed 29 August as the International Day against Nuclear Tests in 2009."
29th August 1949: USSR conducts its first atomic bomb test
"On the 29th August 1949, the Soviet Union successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon codenamed RDS-1 and nicknamed First Lightning. The explosion had the power of 22 kilotons of TNT, and was 50% more destructive than its designers had expected.
The USSR started its nuclear program in 1943 after discovering the USA, Britain and Canada had begun bomb development. Assisted by intelligence from sources inside the USA’s Manhattan Project, the Soviet Union’s program developed quickly as the Soviets were able to replicate American successes while avoiding some of their costlier mistakes. Consequently, although the majority of Cold War academics accept that the USSR’s success had a lot to do with domestic expertise they recognise that intelligence helped to reduce the time it took for them to develop the bomb.
Work was accelerated after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in secret, purpose-built cities dedicated to the nuclear program known as Atomgrads. By 1949 the Soviets had developed two types of bomb, but opted to detonate the simpler of the two designs first since it was similar in design to the successful Fat Man bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki.
The RDS-1 test was conducted in secret in an attempt to avoid the USA increasing its own nuclear program, but the US Air Force began to detect radioactive fallout from the explosion a few days later and tracked the trail. Soviet success had occurred up to 4 years ahead of Western estimates, and the knowledge that the USSR now had ‘the bomb’ dramatically increased tensions in the early years of the Cold War."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQOZp4ThymU
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown CMSgt (Join to see) MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Charles H. Hawes SGT Mark Halmrast PO1 William "Chip" Nagel CPT Gabe SnellLTC Greg Henning
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