Its single test represents about one tenth of the total yield of all nuclear weapons ever tested by all nations. Still, at 50 megatons, it was more than 3,300 times as powerful as the atomic bomb that killed at least 70,000 people in Hiroshima, and more than 40 times as powerful as the largest nuclear bomb in the US arsenal today. One civilian witness remarked that it was “as if the Earth was killed.” Decades later, the weapon would be given the name it is most commonly known by today: Tsar Bomba, meaning “emperor bomb.”ĭesigned to have a maximum explosive yield of 100 million tons (or 100 megatons) of TNT equivalent, the 60,000-pound monster bomb was detonated at only half its strength. Within ten minutes, it had reached a height of 42 miles and a diameter of some 60 miles. Over several minutes it rose and mushroomed into a massive cloud. The fireball expanded to nearly six miles in diameter-large enough to include the entire urban core of Washington or San Francisco, or all of midtown and downtown Manhattan. The flash alone lasted more than a minute. The sight was fantastic, unreal, and the fireball looked like some other planet.
Behind it, like a funnel, the whole earth seemed to be drawn in. It grew larger and larger, and when it reached enormous size, it went up. A cameraman watching from the island recalled:Ī fire-red ball of enormous size rose and grew. A minute or so later, the bomb detonated. As the bomb fell, an enormous parachute unfurled to slow its descent, giving the pilot time to retreat to a safe distance. Slung below the plane’s belly was a nuclear bomb the size of a small school bus-the largest and most powerful bomb ever created.Īt 11:32 a.m., the bombardier released the weapon.
In the early hours of October 30, 1961, a bomber took off from an airstrip in northern Russia and began its flight through cloudy skies over the frigid Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya.
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