ATOMIC BOMBS
First Atomic Bomb 6th August: the American B29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the first atomic boy, codenamed ‘Little Boy’ on the Japanese city of Hiroshima: It exploded with a force of 20,000 TNT (chemical compound formula) The temperature at the centre of the explosion reached 3000°C - 4000°C three times hotter than volcanic lava Everything within a mile of the centre of the blast was flattened Fires spread and around 67% of Hiroshima’s buildings were destroyed
Second atomic bomb 9th August: The Americans dropped the second atomic bomb, codenamed ‘Fat Man’, on the Japanese city of Nagasaki
Consequences 14th August – The Japanese surrendered Japanese claimed a quarter of a million were killed. Many suffered horrific injuries. In the years that followed, many survivors developed ill health Studies of the survivors have allowed doctors to understand radiation poisoning, and to set safety levels for the nuclear power industry
The Hydrogen Bomb
‘Ivy Mike’: The First Test The operation, codenamed ‘Ivy Mike’, was detonated on 1st November 1952 on an atoll in the Pacific. Following the test, the particular device was deemed unsuitable for use as a weapon. The radius of the explosion itself was approximately 3km, the mushroom cloud reached around 37km high, the crater was approximately 2km across and 164ft deep, the surrounding island were stripped of vegetation and the area was heavily contaminated for some time.
ICBMs
The Soviets used captured Nazi scientists to pioneer their Soviet rocket program. This work was based on the Nazi V2 rocket used in the second World war. This lead to the Soviets launching their first ICBM in Kazakhstan. It was the first ICBM capable of carrying a thermo-nuclear bomb.
This technology was highly significant leading later to the development of Sputnik- the first ever space satellite.
ICBMs were a highly significant development due to the fact that the utilisation of this weapon required no prior planning or preparation, as planes, manual labour and infrastructure were replaced by a single button.
UK Atomic Weapons
UK tested first atomic bomb October 1952 First hydrogen bombs tested in 1957-58 1958 UK/US nuclear collaboration resumed and Mutual Defence agreement signed
Operation Hurricane 3rd October 1952, the UK became the third country to test nuclear weapons after the USA and Soviet Union. Code-named ‘Hurricane’, and was conducted at the Montebello Islands in Western Australia. Turtles killed as result of testing Based on this test, the UK developed the first deployable nuclear weapon, the Blue Danube. Tests conducted in Aborigine territory affected Aboriginies
UK conducted last nuclear test on November 26th 1991 Signed Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on September 24th 1996
Space Race
Sputnik October 4th 1957 Soviets launched Sputnik (traveller), the world’s first artificial satellite This was the first man-made object to placed into earth’s orbit Unwelcome surprise to America who thought of space as a new frontier that they wanted to be the first to explore
Explorer 1 1958 USA launched own satellite, Explorer 1, designed by Wernher von Braun President Eisenhower signed public order creating NASA Eisenhower also created two security programmes that would operate with NASA One programme, code-named Corona, used orbiting satellites to gather intelligence on the USSR
April 1961 Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit Earth February 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit earth December 1968 Apollo 8 launched, first space mission to orbit moon July 16th 1969 Aldrin, Armstrong, Collins landed on the moon
1975 joint Apollo-Soyuz sent three US astronauts into space aboard an Apollo aircraft that docked in orbit with Soviet vehicle ‘Hand-shake in space’ seen to be sign of improving relations