July 9, 1962. The US Detonated a Nuclear Bomb in Space. #shorts #nuclear #space #coldwar

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]July 9th, 1962, United States detonated a 1.4 megaton nuclear bomb in space, 400 km above the Pacific Ocean. The explosion was 100 times more powerful than Hiroshima. People in Hawaii saw the sky turn bright green and purple at midnight and thought it was beautiful.

[00:00:16]They had no idea it was a nuclear bomb.

[00:00:18]The blast destroyed six satellites including Telstar 1, which had been launched the day before. It created an artificial radiation belt around Earth that lasted for months, damaging every satellite [music] that passed through it. Streetlights in Hawaii went out.

[00:00:29]Burglar alarms triggered across Honolulu. The EMP covered 1,400 km today. Testing nuclear weapons in space is banned by international treaty because of what happened that night.