Back in the summer of 1962, the U.S. blew up a hydrogen bomb in outer space, some 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean.
It was a weapons test, but one that created a man-made light show that has never been equaled — and hopefully never will.
Peter Kuran of Visual Concept Entertainment collected them for his documentary Nukes In Space.
If you are wondering why anybody would deliberately detonate an H-bomb in space, the answer comes from a conversation we had with science historian James Fleming of Colby College.
Van Allen described how the Earth is surrounded by belts of high-energy particles — mainly protons and electrons — that are held in place by the magnetic fields.
Fleming is trying to figure out if Van Allen had any theoretical reason to suppose the military could use the Van Allen belts to attack a hostile nation.
When the bomb burst, people told of blackouts and strange electrical malfunctions, like garage doors opening and closing on their own. »