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Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests that were conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site, following Project 57, and preceding Project 58/58A. [ 1 ] Background
A manhole cover was accidentally launched from its shaft during an underground nuclear test in 1957. During the Operation Plumbbob nuclear tests, a 900-kilogram (1,984 lb) steel plate cap was blasted off the test shaft at an unknown speed and appeared as a blur on a single frame of film of the test. It was never recovered, but it likely burned ...
Although likely never achieving orbit due to aerodynamic drag, the first macroscopic object to obtain Earth orbital velocity was a "900kg manhole cover" propelled by the somewhat focused detonation of test shot Pascal-B in August 1957. The use of a subterranean shaft and nuclear device to propel an object to escape velocity has since been ...
On 26 July 1957, Plumbbob Pascal-A was detonated at the bottom of a 486 ft (148 m) shaft. [17] [18] According to one description, it "ushered in the era of underground testing with a magnificent pyrotechnic roman candle!" [19] As compared with an above-ground test, the radioactive debris released to the atmosphere was reduced by a factor of ten ...
Operation Project 58/58A [1] was a series of 4 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1957–1958 at the Nevada Test Site. These tests followed the Operation Plumbbob series and preceded the Operation Hardtack I series.
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A side-effect of the Pascal-B nuclear test during Operation Plumbbob may have resulted in the first man-made object launched into space. The so-called "thunder well" effect from the underground explosion may have launched a metal cover plate into space at six times Earth's escape velocity, although the evidence remains subject to debate.
The series came to be known as Operation Plumbbob and took place in 1957 from April 24 to October 7. Operation Plumbbob was followed by Project 58/58A and Operation Hardtack I. At the time of testing, Operation Plumbbob was the most extensive nuclear test series held at the Nevada Test Site.