Episode Details

On October 30, 1961, the Soviet Union detonated RDS-220 over the Arctic — a 50-megaton device the West called Tsar Bomba. It was built in just sixteen weeks, carried under a stripped-down bomber, and slowed by a parachute made from nylon hosiery fabric. This episode digs into why Khrushchev ordered a weapon with no military requirement, how Sakharov's last-minute tamper swap cut the fallout by 97%, and what the real numbers actually were — separating documented fact from decades of repetition. Part one of two; next time, the American side: Project Sundial. Episode #032540 — open it directly at myweirdprompts.com/032540