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A History of Nuclear Weapons In WWII, the first nuclear weapon was created as a result of the Manhattan project for possible use against the Axis powers Though President Truman did not tell Stalin about the project until the 1945 Potsdam Conference, he was informed due to a spy ring operation within the program On August 6 th, 1945, the first nuclear bomb, named Little Boy, was dropped on Hiroshima and nuclear warfare was introduced to the world One of the first nuclear bombs

A graph comparing nuclear stockpiles Click here to read about Tsar BombaClick here to read about Tsar Bomba, the world’s largest nuclear weapon, created by the USSR in 1961 The Nuclear Arms Race Begins After the war, the U.S. had a monopoly on knowledge and nuclear materials The USSR was working hard to develop a nuclear weapon, taking important uranium resources from eastern Europe The first Soviet nuclear bomb was detonated on August 29 th, 1949, after the U.S. had predicted they would not have nuclear weapons until the 1950’s

Origin of the Hydrogen Bomb Both governments worked furiously to increase the power and size of their nuclear stockpiles The U.S. detonated the first hydrogen bomb on November 1 st, 1952, discovering it was 450 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki The USSR set off a thermonuclear weapon the next August, and had their first H-bomb by November 1955 A test of a Soviet hydrogen bomb

A History of Missiles The first intercontinental ballistic missile was to be created in WWII by the Nazi’s Projekt Amerika Though a true ICBM was not produced, they were successful in creating missiles which could be launched up to 200 miles After the war, German scientists were secretly transferred to the US to work for the army, and the first successful ICBM launched on July 29 th, 1959, two years after the USSR A launch of a V-2 missile

Cold War ICBMs ICBMs were first introduced into military systems in 1959, because they needed large launch facilities which made them vulnerable to attack These early ICBMs formed the basis for space launch systems Soon, both sides developed solid fuel missiles, which allowed them to be made smaller and more accurate, but less useful for orbital launch The Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, which was the first to host ICBMs in the US

Strategic Nuclear Missiles of the US and USSR YearLaunchersWarheadsMegatonnage USAUSSRUSAUSSRUSAUSSR 19642, , ,5001, , , ,6001, ,3601,0454, ,1002, ,2301,6803,9001,8004,3003, ,2302,0905,8002,1004,1004, ,1802,3808,4002,4003,8004, ,1002,3909,4003,2003,7004, ,0582,3509,8005,2003,8005, ,0422,490 10,000 6,0004,0005, ,0322,490 11,000 8,0004,1007,100

A History of Strategic Bombers At the beginning of WWII, most bombings were carried out by “medium bombers”; twin engined planes with multiple gun positions During the war, bigger two and four engined planes were being developed, and by the end of the war these “heavy bombers” had mostly replaced the smaller ones A WWII B-29 Strategic Bomber

Cold War Strategic Bombers Bombers on both sides were kept ready to launch in case of an attack, most armed with nuclear weapons For a period of time, B-52 Stratofortress bombers were kept in the air constantly around the Soviet border Soon, planes such as the Rockwell International B-1B Lancer bomber, Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack and the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit were developed with stealth devices in order to avoid detection A USSR Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack

The Space Race Begins On July 27 th, 1957, the US announced its plans to launch satellites into orbit by the spring of 1958 The USSR responded by claiming to launch a satellite by fall of that year On October 4 they succesfully launched Sputnik 1 into space, the first satellite to orbit the Earth, and the US sucessfully launched their Explorer 1 until four mounths later A model of the Explorer 1 at a NASA conference

The Satellite Revolution The first animal to orbit the earth was Laika the dog in the USSR’s Sputnik 2 in 1957, but died several hours later The first communications satellite launched on December 18 th, 1958, and played a Christmas message from President Eisenhower to the world In 1960 the Soviet dogs Belka and Strelka orbited the earth and were the first animals to successfully return Laika in her space harness before launch

Humans in Space Yuri Gagarin of the USSR became the first man to go into orbit on April 12 th, 1961 on the Vostok 1 23 days later, Alan Shepard entered for the US in the Freedom 7 February 20 th of the following year, John Glenn became the first person to completely orbit the Earth in the same ship Valentina Tereshkova of the USSR entered space on June 16 th, 1963, on the Vostok 6, becoming the first woman in space John Glenn preparing for his flight

Landing on the Moon On September 13 th, 1959, the USSR’s Luna 2 became the first human-made object to land on the moon In December 1968, James Lovell, Frank Borman, and Bill Anders of the US were the first people to orbited the moon and also celebrate Christmas in space On July 20 th, 1969, the US made history by landing the manned ship Apollo 11 on the moon, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first and second men to walk on the moon Click here to watch a recording of the lunar landing The USSR’s Luna 2 spacecraft Click here to see a graph of the Space Race

Bibliography "Nuclear arms race." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Wikipedia Project. Web. 22 Feb "The Soviet Weapons Program - The Tsar Bomba." The Nuclear Weapon Archive - A Guide to Nuclear Weapons. Web. 24 Feb "Space Race." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Wikipedia Project. Web. 25 Feb "Apollo 11: Lunar Landing July 20, Apollo11: Lunar Landing July 20, 1969." YouTube.com. Web. 27 Feb

This PowerPoint presentation is made by Jenna Davis