How could an iron manhole cover be the fastest human-made object ever launched?
I honestly pictured something akin to the exploding manhole covers that terrify NYC residents: It wasn't like that.
Robert Brownlee, an astrophysicist who designed the nuclear test in question, told Tech Insider the unbelievable story.
He refutes his critics and asserts that yes, it likely was the fastest object that mankind ever launched.
By the 1950s, the US government and the public were concerned with the radiation that nuclear bombs could release into the atmosphere.
The very first underground tests were a bit of an experiment â nobody knew exactly what might happen.
At the time, Brownlee said, he expected the manhole cover to fall back to Earth, but they never found it. »