![]() “The clouds beneath the aircraft and in the distance were lit up by the powerful flash. The sea of light spread under the hatch and even clouds began to glow and became transparent. The Tsar Bomba was tested on October 30, 1961. ![]() At that moment, our aircraft emerged from between two cloud layers and down below in the gap a huge bright orange ball was emerging. 5800302, with the bomb took off from the Olenya airfield, and was flown to State. The ball was powerful and arrogant like Jupiter. Having broken through the thick layer of clouds it kept growing. It seemed to suck the whole earth into it. The spectacle was fantastic, unreal, supernatural.”ĭiplomatic fallout following the explosion was significant, especially from the United States and Scandinavian countries near the blast. Ultimately, it didn’t matter-the Tsar Bomba was much too large to ever be practical. City-sized targets in the United States were just too far away for Soviet bombers to reach without extensive refueling support and modifications to airframes to carry and drop such massive payloads. Still, the Tsar Bomba did achieve one strategic objective for Moscow: shocking and surprising the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-and helped spur the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a moratorium on nuclear tests underwater, in space, and in the atmosphere. Thankfully the bomb was never put into production.Ĭaleb Larson is a Defense Writer with The National Interest. He holds a Master of Public Policy and covers U.S. And Russian security, European defense issues, and German politics and culture.
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