An 602 thermonuclear aerial bomb. "Tsar bomb": the grandeur of accomplishment. Description of the design of AN602

Tsar bomb

"Tsar-bomba", "Kuzkin's mother" - this was the name of the Soviet-made in 1954-1961. thermonuclear aerial bomb AN602, the explosion of which in the fall of 1961 showed all the strength and power of the Soviet Union. The power of this bomb ranged from 57 to 58.6 megatons of TNT equivalent, it became the most powerful explosive device in the history of mankind.

The development of this bomb was carried out by a group of nuclear physicists under the leadership of Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR IV Kurchatov. The development team included A.D. Sakharov, V.B. Adamsky, Yu.N. Babaev, Yu.A. Trutnev, Yu.N. Smirnov and others. For the development of this bomb, Sakharov was awarded the third medal of the Hero of Socialist Labor.

The name "Kuzka's mother" appeared under the impression of N. S. Khrushchev's famous statement "We will show America Kuzka's mother!" Officially, the AN602 bomb had no name.

Where is it designed?

There is a widespread myth that the Tsar Bomba was designed on the instructions of N. S. Khrushchev and in record time - supposedly the entire development and manufacture took 112 days. In fact, work on the RN202 / AN602 was carried out for more than seven years - from autumn 1954 to autumn 1961 (with a two-year break in 1959-1960). At the same time, in 1954-1958. work on the 100-megaton bomb was carried out by NII-1011.

It is worth noting that the above information about the start date of work is in partial contradiction with the official history of the institute (now it is the Russian Federal Nuclear Center - All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics / RFNC-VNIITF). According to it, the order to create the corresponding research institute in the system of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building of the USSR was signed only on April 5, 1955, and work at NII-1011 began a few months later. But in any case, only the final stage of the development of AN602 (already in KB-11 - now it is the Russian Federal Nuclear Center - All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics / RFNC-VNIIEF) in the summer-autumn of 1961 (and by no means the entire project as a whole !) really took 112 days. Nevertheless - AN602 was not just a renamed PH202. A number of design changes were made to the design of the bomb - as a result, for example, its centering changed noticeably. AN602 had a three-stage design: the nuclear charge of the first stage (the estimated contribution to the explosion power is 1.5 megatons) triggered a thermonuclear reaction in the second stage (the contribution to the explosion power is 50 megatons), and it, in turn, initiated the nuclear "Jekyll reaction - Haida" in the third stage (another 50 megatons of power).

The original bomb

The original version of the bomb was rejected due to the extremely high level of radioactive contamination that it was supposed to cause. It was decided not to use the third stage of the explosion process ("Jekyll-Hyde reaction") and to replace the uranium components with their lead equivalent.

The first studies on the "topic 242" began immediately after the negotiations between I. V. Kurchatov and A. N. Tupolev (took place in the autumn of 1954), who appointed his deputy for weapons systems A. V. Nadashkevich as the head of the topic. The strength analysis carried out showed that the suspension of such a large concentrated load would require major changes in the power circuit of the original aircraft, in the design of the bomb bay and in the suspension and drop devices. In the first half of 1955, the overall and weight drawing of the AN602 was agreed, as well as the layout drawing of its placement. As expected, the weight of the bomb was 15% of the carrier's takeoff weight, but its overall dimensions required the removal of the fuselage fuel tanks. The new beam holder BD7-95-242 (BD-242) developed for the AN602 suspension was similar in design to the BD-206, but much more load-bearing. It had three Der5-6 bomber locks with a carrying capacity of 9 tons each. BD-242 was attached directly to the power longitudinal beams, edging the bomb bay. The problem of controlling the release of the bomb was also successfully solved - the electric automatics ensured the exclusively synchronous opening of all three locks (the need for which was dictated by security conditions).

On March 17, 1956, a joint resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 357-228ss was issued, according to which OKB-156 was to begin converting the Tu-95 into a carrier of high-power nuclear bombs. These works were carried out at the LII VVS (Zhukovsky) from May to September 1956. Then the Tu-95V was accepted by the customer and handed over for flight tests, which were carried out (including dropping the “superbomb” mock-up) under the leadership of Colonel S. M. Kulikov until 1959 and passed without any special remarks. In October 1959, the Dnepropetrovsk crew delivered the "Kuzkin's mother" to the training ground.

The carrier of the "superbomb" was created, but its real tests were postponed for political reasons: Khrushchev was going to the USA, and there was a pause in the Cold War. The Tu-95V was transferred to the airfield in Uzin, where it was used as a training aircraft and was no longer listed as a combat vehicle. However, in 1961, with the beginning of a new round of the Cold War, the testing of the "superbomb" again became relevant. The Tu-95V was urgently replaced with all the connectors in the electric reset system and the bomb bay doors were removed - a real bomb in terms of weight (26.5 tons, including the weight of the parachute system - 0.8 tons) and dimensions turned out to be slightly larger than the layout. In particular, now its vertical dimension exceeded the dimensions of the bomb bay in height.

Tests

The prepared Tu-95V was transferred to the Olenya airfield. Soon, with a special white reflective coating and a real bomb on board, piloted by a crew led by Major A.E. Durnovtsev, he headed for Novaya Zemlya.

The test of the most powerful explosive device in the world took place on October 30, 1961, during the days of the XXII Congress of the CPSU. But initially, the aircraft, which had already flown on a mission and equipped, had to be returned to the base due to the failure of the radar guidance device. A dilemma arose - to drop the bomb and lose the fruits of enormous efforts, or to land the plane with the bomb already cocked, with the risk of detonating it. Academician Sakharov and his colleague personally signed a document certifying that the landing was safe. And only after landing and troubleshooting did the second flight take place, which ended in success.

The bombing took place within the Dry Nose nuclear test site (73.85, 54.573°51′ N 54°30′ E / 73.85° N 54.5° E (G)) at an altitude of 4200 m above sea level, 4000 m above the target (however, there are other data on the height of the explosion - in particular, the figures were 3700 m above the target (3900 m above sea level) and 4500 m). The power of the explosion significantly exceeded the calculated one (51.5 megatons) and ranged from 57 to 58.6 megatons in TNT equivalent. There is also evidence that, according to initial data, the explosion power of AN602 was significantly overestimated and was estimated at up to 75 megatons.

Even in the "half" version (and the maximum power of such a bomb is 100 megatons), the energy of the explosion was ten times higher than the total power of all explosives used by all warring parties during the Second World War (including the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

shock wave from the explosion

The shock wave from the explosion circled the globe three times, the first time in 36 hours and 27 minutes. The flash of light was so bright that, despite the continuous cloudiness, it was visible even from the command post in the village of Belushya Guba (almost 200 km away from the epicenter of the explosion).

The mushroom cloud rose to a height of 67 km. By the time of the explosion, while the bomb was slowly descending on a huge parachute from a height of 10500 to the calculated point of detonation, the Tu-95 carrier aircraft with the crew and its commander, Major Andrei Yegorovich Durnovtsev, was already in the safe zone. The commander returned to his airfield as a lieutenant colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union.

The results of the explosion of the charge, which received the name "Tsar Bomba" in the West, were impressive:
* Nuclear mushroom explosion rose to a height of 67 kilometers; the diameter of its two-tier "hat" reached (near the upper tier) 95 kilometers.
* The fireball of a rupture with a radius of approximately 4.6 kilometers reached the surface of the earth - which is not typical for airborne nuclear explosions.
* Radiation caused third-degree burns up to 100 kilometers away.
* The shock wave resulting from the explosion circled the globe three times.
* Atmospheric ionization caused radio interference even hundreds of kilometers from the test site for about 40 minutes.
* Witnesses felt the impact and were able to describe the explosion at a distance of a thousand kilometers from its center.
* The sound wave generated by the explosion reached Dixon Island at a distance of about 800 kilometers. However, sources do not report any destruction or damage to structures, even in those located much closer (280 km) to the landfill, the urban-type settlement of Amderma and the settlement of Belushya Guba.

The main goal that was set and achieved by this test was to demonstrate the Soviet Union's possession of an unlimited power weapon of mass destruction - the TNT equivalent of the most powerful thermonuclear bomb tested by that time in the United States was almost four times less than that of AN602. Also with this test, the Soviet Union demonstrated the ability to create a hydrogen bomb of any power and a means of delivering the bomb to the point of detonation.

No limit on bomb power

Indeed, an increase in the power of a hydrogen bomb is achieved simply by increasing the mass of the working material, so that, in principle, there are no factors preventing the creation of a 100-megaton or 500-megaton hydrogen bomb.

In the tested copy of the bomb, in order to raise the explosion power by another 50 megatons, it was enough to make the third stage of the bomb (it was the shell of the second stage) not from lead, but from uranium-238, as it was supposed to be. The replacement of the shell material and the lowering of the explosion power were due only to the desire to reduce the amount of radioactive fallout to an acceptable level, and not to reduce the weight of the bomb, as is sometimes believed. However, the weight of AN602 actually decreased from this, but only slightly - the uranium shell should have weighed about 2800 kg, while the lead shell of the same volume - based on the lower density of lead - about 1700 kg. The resulting lightening of just over one ton is hardly noticeable with a total mass of AN602 of at least 24 tons (even if we take the most modest estimate) and did not affect the state of affairs with its transportation.

Nor can it be argued that "the explosion was one of the cleanest in the history of atmospheric nuclear tests" - the first stage of the bomb was a 1.5 megaton uranium charge, which in itself provided a large amount of radioactive fallout. In addition, the fireball of the explosion touched the ground, and this led to the rise into the atmosphere of an additional large number of particles of the soil irradiated by the explosion. Nevertheless, we can assume that for a nuclear explosive device of such power, AN602 was indeed quite clean.

More than 55 years ago, on October 30, 1961, one of the most significant events of the Cold War happened. At the test site located on Novaya Zemlya, the Soviet Union tested the most powerful thermonuclear device in the history of mankind - a hydrogen bomb with a capacity of 58 megatons of TNT. Officially, this ammunition was called AN602 (“product 602”), but it entered the historical annals under its unofficial name - “Tsar Bomba”.

This bomb has another name - "Kuzkin's mother." It was born after the famous speech of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Khrushchev, during which he promised to show the United States "Kuzkin's mother" and pounded his shoe on the podium.

The best Soviet physicists worked on the creation of "product 602": Sakharov, Trutnev, Adamsky, Babaev, Smirnov. This project was led by academician Kurchatov, work on the creation of the bomb began in 1954.

The Soviet "Tsar Bomba" was dropped from a Tu-95 strategic bomber, which had been specially converted for the mission. The explosion occurred at an altitude of 3.7 thousand meters. Seismographs around the world recorded the strongest fluctuations, and the blast wave circled the globe three times. The explosion of the Tsar Bomba seriously frightened the West, and showed that it is better not to mess with the Soviet Union. A powerful propaganda effect was achieved, and the capabilities of Soviet nuclear weapons were clearly demonstrated to a potential adversary.

But the most important was something else: the tests of the Tsar Bomba made it possible to test the theoretical calculations of scientists, and it was proved that the power of thermonuclear munitions is practically unlimited.

And, by the way, it was true. After the successful tests, Khrushchev joked that they wanted to blow up 100 megatons, but were afraid to break the windows in Moscow. Indeed, initially they planned to undermine the hundred-megaton charge, but then they did not want to cause too much damage to the test site.

The history of the creation of the Tsar bomb

Since the mid-1950s, work began in the USA and the USSR on the creation of a second-generation nuclear weapon - a thermonuclear bomb. In November 1952, the United States blew up the first such device, and eight months later the Soviet Union conducted similar tests. At the same time, the Soviet thermonuclear bomb was much more advanced than its American counterpart, it could well be placed in the bomb bay of an aircraft and used in practice. Thermonuclear weapons were ideally suited for the implementation of the Soviet concept of single, but deadly strikes against the enemy, because theoretically the power of thermonuclear charges is unlimited.

In the early 60s, the USSR began to develop huge (if not monstrous) nuclear charges in terms of power. In particular, it was planned to create missiles with a thermonuclear warhead weighing 40 and 75 tons. The explosion power of a forty-ton warhead was to be 150 megatons. In parallel, work was underway on the creation of heavy-duty aviation munitions. However, the development of such "monsters" required practical tests, during which the bombing technique would be worked out, the damage from explosions would be assessed, and, most importantly, the theoretical calculations of physicists would be tested.

In general, it should be noted that before the advent of reliable intercontinental ballistic missiles, the problem of delivering nuclear charges was very acute in the USSR. There was a project of a huge self-propelled torpedo with a powerful thermonuclear charge (about a hundred megatons), which they planned to undermine off the coast of the United States. A special submarine was designed to launch this torpedo. According to the developers, the explosion was supposed to cause a strong tsunami and flood the most important US metropolitan areas located on the coast. Academician Sakharov supervised the project, but for technical reasons it was never implemented.

Initially, the NII-1011 (Chelyabinsk-70, now RFNC-VNIITF) was engaged in the development of a super-powerful nuclear bomb. At this stage, the ammunition was called RN-202, but in 1958 the project was closed by the decision of the country's top leadership. There is a legend that "Kuzkina's mother" was developed by Soviet scientists in record time - only 112 days. It doesn't quite match really. Although, indeed, the final stage of creating ammunition, which took place in KB-11, took only 112 days. But it would not be entirely correct to say that the Tsar Bomba is just a renamed and completed RN-202, in fact, significant improvements were made to the design of the ammunition.

Initially, the capacity of AN602 was supposed to be more than 100 megatons, and its design should have three stages. But due to the significant radioactive contamination of the explosion site, it was decided to abandon the third stage, which reduced the power of the ammunition by almost half (to 50 megatons).

Another serious problem that the developers of the Tsar Bomba project had to solve was the preparation of a carrier aircraft for this unique and non-standard nuclear charge, since the serial Tu-95 was not suitable for this mission. This issue was raised back in 1954 in a conversation that took place between two academicians - Kurchatov and Tupolev.

After the drawings of the thermonuclear bomb were made, it turned out that the placement of the ammunition required a serious alteration of the aircraft's bomb bay. The fuselage tanks were removed from the car, and for the AN602 suspension, a new beam holder was installed on the aircraft with a much higher carrying capacity and three bomber locks instead of one. The new bomber received the index "B".

To ensure the safety of the aircraft crew, the Tsar Bomba was equipped with three parachutes at once: exhaust, brake and main. They slowed down the fall of the bomb, allowing the aircraft to fly back to a safe distance after being dropped.

The re-equipment of the aircraft for dropping the superbomb began as early as 1956. In the same year, the aircraft was accepted by the customer and tested. From the Tu-95V they even dropped the exact model of the future bomb.

On October 17, 1961, Nikita Khrushchev at the opening of the XX Congress of the CPSU announced that the USSR was successfully testing a new super-powerful nuclear weapon, and a 50-megaton munition would soon be ready. Khrushchev also said that the Soviet Union also has a 100 megaton bomb, but is not going to blow it up yet. A few days later, the UN General Assembly asked the Soviet government not to test the new mega-bomb, but this call was not heeded.

Description of the design of AN602

The AN602 aerial bomb is a cylindrical body of a characteristic streamlined shape with tail stabilizers. Its length is 8 meters, the maximum diameter is 2.1 meters, and it weighs 26.5 tons. The dimensions of this bomb completely repeat the dimensions of the RN-202 ammunition.

The initial design power of the bomb was 100 megatons, but then it was reduced by almost half. The Tsar Bomba was conceived as a three-stage one: the first stage was a nuclear charge (power of the order of 1.5 megatons), it launched a second-stage thermonuclear reaction (50 megatons), which, in turn, initiated a third-stage Jekyll-Hyde nuclear reaction (also 50 megatons). However, the explosion of a munition of this design was almost guaranteed to lead to significant radioactive contamination of the test site, so they decided to abandon the third stage. The uranium in it was replaced by lead.

Carrying out tests of the Tsar bomb and their results

Despite the modernization carried out earlier, immediately before the tests themselves, the aircraft still had to be redone. Together with the parachute system, the real ammunition turned out to be larger and heavier than planned. Therefore, the bomb bay doors had to be removed from the aircraft. In addition, it was pre-painted with white reflective paint.

On October 30, 1961, a Tu-95V with a bomb on board took off from the Olenya airfield and headed towards the test site on Novaya Zemlya. The crew of the bomber consisted of nine people. The Tu-95A laboratory aircraft also took part in the tests.

The bomb was dropped two hours after takeoff at an altitude of 10.5 thousand meters above a mock target located on the territory of the Dry Nose training ground. Undermining was carried out barothermally at an altitude of 4.2 thousand meters (according to other sources, at an altitude of 3.9 thousand meters or 4.5 thousand meters). The parachute system slowed down the fall of the ammunition, so it took 188 seconds to reach the estimated height of the A602. During this time, the carrier aircraft managed to move away from the epicenter by 39 km. The shock wave caught up with the plane at a distance of 115 km, but he managed to continue his flight and safely returned to base. According to some sources, the Tsar Bomba explosion came out much more powerful than planned (58.6 or even 75 megatons).

The test results exceeded all expectations. After the explosion, a fireball with a diameter of more than nine kilometers was formed, the nuclear mushroom reached a height of 67 km, and the diameter of its "cap" was 97 km. Light radiation could cause burns at a distance of 100 km, and the sound wave reached Dikson Island, located 800 km east of Novaya Zemlya. The seismic wave generated by the explosion circled the globe three times. At the same time, the tests did not lead to significant environmental pollution. Scientists landed at the epicenter point two hours after the explosion.

After the tests, the commander and navigator of the Tu-95V aircraft were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, eight employees of KB-11 received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, and several dozen scientists from the design bureau received Lenin Prizes.

During the tests, all pre-planned goals were achieved. The theoretical calculations of scientists were tested, the military gained experience in the practical use of previously unseen weapons, and the country's leadership received a powerful foreign policy and propaganda trump card. It was clearly shown that the Soviet Union could achieve parity with the United States in the lethality of nuclear weapons.

The A602 bomb was not originally intended for practical military use. In fact, it was a demonstrator of the capabilities of the Soviet military industry. The Tu-95V simply could not fly with such a combat load to the territory of the United States - it simply would not have enough fuel. But, nevertheless, the tests of the Tsar Bomba produced the desired result in the West - two years later, in August 1963, in Moscow, an agreement was signed between the USSR, Great Britain and the USA banning nuclear tests in space, on the ground or under water. Since then, only underground nuclear explosions have been carried out. In 1990, the USSR announced a unilateral moratorium on all nuclear tests. Until now, Russia has followed it.

By the way, after the successful test of the Tsar Bomba, Soviet scientists put forward several proposals for the creation of even more powerful thermonuclear munitions, from 200 to 500 megatons, but they were never implemented. The main opponents of such plans were the military. The reason was simple: such a weapon did not have the slightest practical meaning. The explosion of A602 created a zone of complete destruction, equal in area to the territory of Paris, why create even more powerful ammunition. In addition, they simply did not have the necessary means of delivery, neither strategic aviation nor ballistic missiles of that time could simply lift such a weight.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

, Yu. N. Babaev , Yu. N. Smirnov , Yu. A. Trutnev and others.

Project Goals

In addition to natural political and propaganda considerations of an internal and (more important) external nature (to respond to US nuclear blackmail with counter nuclear blackmail), the creation of the Tsar Bomba fit into the concept of development of the strategic nuclear forces of the USSR, adopted during the leadership of the country by G. M. Malenkov and N. S. Khrushchev. In short, it boiled down to the fact that - without chasing quantitative parity with the United States in nuclear weapons and their means of delivery - to achieve enough for "guaranteed retaliation with an unacceptable level of damage to the enemy" in the event of his nuclear attack on the USSR quality superiority of the Soviet strategic nuclear forces. Thus, the “nuclear doctrine of Malenkov-Khrushchev”, although it meant accepting the geopolitical and military challenge of the United States with the energetic participation of the Soviet Union in the nuclear race, it assumed that this race would be conducted by the USSR “in a pronouncedly asymmetric style”.

The technical embodiment of the above policy (not documented - in any case, the relevant documents - if they existed at all - have not yet been published - but clearly traced throughout the military-technical policy of the USSR in the field of nuclear deterrence in 1953-1964) was the creation and development of such nuclear weapons and their means of delivery to targets that single blow(one missile, one aircraft) could completely or almost completely destroy even the largest cities and, moreover, entire urbanized regions (for example, on June 23, 1960, the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the creation of the N-1 orbital combat missile (GRAU index - 11A52) was issued) with a launch weight of 2200 tons with a thermonuclear warhead weighing 75 tons; its estimated yield is unknown, but - for a comparative assessment - the 40-ton warhead of the global UR-500 missile was supposed to have a TNT equivalent of 150 megatons). However, the development of such ammunition required mandatory practical aerial bombing with at least similar samples - since for a nuclear / thermonuclear explosion of large and super-high power there is an optimal detonation height (measured in kilometers), when an explosive device is triggered, at which the shock wave reaches the greatest force and propagation range . In addition, the Long-Range Aviation of the USSR was also directly interested in ultra-high-power thermonuclear bombs, since their use fit into the general concept - to cause the greatest damage to a potential enemy (primarily the United States) with a minimum number of carriers (in this case, bomber aircraft). Finally, it was necessary to check the very practical feasibility of creating thermonuclear charges of such power with (important caveat!) reliably predictable characteristics.

As a curious fact, it should be noted that before the appearance in the USSR of aviation and missile systems - carriers of thermonuclear weapons - with acceptable tactical and technical characteristics, Soviet military-technical and military experts considered a giant torpedo launched from a specially designed nuclear submarine. Undermining its warhead was supposed to initiate a devastating tsunami on the US coast. But, according to the results of a more detailed examination, this project was rejected - as extremely doubtful in terms of its real combat effectiveness (For more details, see "Tsar Torpedo").

Name

It is worth noting that the above information about the start date of work is in partial contradiction with the official history of the institute (now it is the Russian Federal Nuclear Center - /RFNC-VNIITF). According to her, the order to create an appropriate research institute in the system of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building of the USSR was signed only on April 5, 1955, and work at NII-1011 began a few months later. But in any case - the myth that was widespread at the time that the "Tsar Bomba" was designed on the instructions of N. S. Khrushchev in record time - supposedly the entire development and manufacture took 112 days - is completely untrue. Although the final stage of development of the AN602 (already in KB-11 in the summer and autumn of 1961) really took 112 days.

Nevertheless - AN602 was not just a renamed PH202. A number of design changes were made to the design of the bomb - as a result, for example, its centering changed noticeably. AN602 had a three-stage design: the nuclear charge of the first stage (the estimated contribution to the explosion power is 1.5 megatons) triggered a thermonuclear reaction in the second stage (the contribution to the explosion power is 50 megatons), and it, in turn, initiated the nuclear “Jekyll- Haida "(fission of nuclei in blocks of uranium-238 under the action of fast neutrons formed as a result of a thermonuclear fusion reaction) in the third stage (another 50 megatons of power), so that the total estimated power of AN602 was 101.5 megatons.

The original version of the bomb was rejected due to the extremely high level of radioactive contamination that it was supposed to cause. As a result, it was decided not to use the "Jekyll-Hyde reaction" in the third stage of the bomb and to replace the uranium components of this stage with their lead equivalent. This reduced the estimated total explosion power by almost half (to 51.5 megatons).

The first studies on the "topic 242" began immediately after I. V. Kurchatov's negotiations with A. N. Tupolev (took place in the autumn of 1954), who appointed his deputy for weapons systems A. V. Nadashkevich as the head of the topic. The strength analysis carried out showed that the suspension of such a large concentrated load would require major changes in the power circuit of the original aircraft, in the design of the bomb bay, and in the suspension and ejection devices. In the first half of 1955, the overall and weight drawing of the AN602 was agreed, as well as the layout drawing of its placement. As expected, the mass of the bomb was 15% of the take-off mass of the carrier, but its overall dimensions required the removal of the fuselage fuel tanks. The new beam holder BD7-95-242 (BD-242) developed for the AN602 suspension was similar in design to the BD-206, but much more load-bearing. It had three Der5-6 bomber locks with a carrying capacity of 9 each. BD-242 was attached directly to the power longitudinal beams, edging the bomb bay. They also successfully solved the problem of controlling the release of the bomb - the electric automatics ensured the exclusively synchronous opening of all three locks (the need for this was dictated by security conditions).

Adopt a draft resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the preparation and testing of product 202. Include in the draft resolution items obliging: a) The Ministry of Medium Machine Building (comrade Zavenyagin) and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR (comrade Zhukov), upon completion of preparatory work for testing product 202, report to the Central Committee of the CPSU on the state of affairs; b) The Ministry of Medium Machine Building (comrade Zavenyagin) to work out the issue of introducing a special safety stage into the design of product 202, which ensures that the product does not work if the parachute system fails, and report its proposals to the Central Committee of the CPSU. Instruct tt. Vannikov and Kurchatov the final version of the text of this resolution.

Tests

The carrier of the "superbomb" was created, but its real tests were postponed for political reasons: Khrushchev was going to the USA, and there was a pause in the Cold War. The Tu-95V was transferred to the airfield in Uzin, where it was used as a training aircraft and was no longer listed as a combat vehicle. However, in 1961, with the beginning of a new round of the Cold War, tests of the "superbomb" again became relevant. The Tu-95V was urgently replaced with all the connectors in the electronic reset system and the bomb bay doors were removed - a real bomb in terms of mass (26.5 tons, including the weight of the parachute system - 0.8 tons) and dimensions turned out to be slightly larger than the layout (in particular, now its vertical dimension exceeded the dimensions of the bomb bay in height). The aircraft was also covered with a special white reflective paint.

Khrushchev personally announced the upcoming tests of a 50-megaton bomb in his report on October 17, 1961 at the XXII Congress of the CPSU.

The bomb tests took place on October 30, 1961. A prepared Tu-95V with a real bomb on board, piloted by a crew consisting of: ship commander A. E. Durnovtsev, navigator I. N. Kleshch, flight engineer V. Ya. Brui, took off from the Olenya airfield and headed for Novaya Zemlya. The Tu-16A laboratory aircraft also participated in the tests.

2 hours after the departure, the bomb was dropped from a height of 10,500 meters on a parachute system on a conditional target within the Dry Nose nuclear test site ( 73°51′ N. sh. 54°30′ E d. /  73.850° N sh. 54.500° E d. / 73.850; 54.500 (G) (I)). The bomb was dropped on the main parachute with an area of ​​1600 square meters. m, the total mass of the parachute system (which included five more pilot chutes, triggered by three "cascades") was 800 kg. The bomb was detonated barometrically at 11 hours 33 minutes, 188 seconds after the release at an altitude of 4200 m above sea level (4000 m above the target) (however, there are other data on the height of the explosion - in particular, the numbers 3700 m above the target (3900 m above sea level) and 4500 m). The carrier plane managed to fly to a distance of 39 km, and the laboratory even further - about 53.5 km. The carrier was thrown into a dive by the shock wave and lost 800 m of altitude before control was restored. The power of the explosion significantly exceeded the calculated one (51.5 megatons) and ranged from 57 to 58.6 megatons in TNT equivalent. There is also evidence that, according to initial data, the explosion power of AN602 was significantly overestimated and was estimated at up to 75 megatons. In the laboratory aircraft, the effect of the shock wave from the explosion was felt in the form of vibration and did not affect the aircraft's flight mode.

Test results

Rumors and hoaxes related to AN602

The results of the AN602 tests became the subject of a number of other rumors and hoaxes. Thus, it was sometimes claimed that the power of the bomb explosion reached 120 megatons. This was probably due to the "overlay" of information about the excess of the actual explosion power over the calculated one by about 20% (in fact, by 14-17%) on the initial design bomb power (100 megatons, more precisely - 101.5 megatons). The Pravda newspaper also added fuel to the fire of such rumors, on the pages of which it was officially stated that “She<АН602>- yesterday's day of atomic weapons. Now even more powerful charges have been created. In fact, more powerful thermonuclear munitions (such as, for example, the warhead for the already mentioned global UR-500 missile with a capacity of 150 megatons), although they were really developed, remained on the drawing boards.

At various times, rumors also circulated that the power of the bomb was reduced by 2 times compared to the planned one, as scientists feared the occurrence of self-sustaining thermonuclear reaction in the atmosphere. Interestingly, similar fears (only about the possibility of a self-sustaining nuclear fission reaction occurring in the atmosphere) have already been expressed earlier - in preparation for testing the first atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project. Then it got to the point that one of the scientists was not only removed from the tests, but also sent to the care of doctors.

Concerns were also expressed by science fiction writers and physicists (generated mainly by science fiction of those years - in particular, this topic repeatedly appeared in the books of A.P. Kazantsev; so, in his novel " Faety" It was stated that the hypothetical planet Phaethon died in this way - from which , allegedly, the modern inner asteroid belt of our planetary system remained - where thermonuclear explosions could initiate a thermonuclear reaction in sea water, which actually contains some deuterium) and thus caused the thermonuclear detonation of the oceans, which split the planet into pieces.

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Notes

1. For example, even at the end of December 1964, the Strategic Missile Forces of the USSR had only 176 launchers of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) - See. Drogovoz I. G. Air shield of the Soviet Union. - Minsk: Harvest, 2004. - S. 240. - ISBN 985-13-2141-9 ., with clarifications according to: Mikhail Pervov. Missile systems of the Strategic Missile Forces // Equipment and weapons. - 2001. - No. 5-6. - S. 21.34. For comparison: 744 units were produced in the USA alone B-52 Stratofortress heavy strategic bombers ( Shelekhov M.V. and others. Aviation of the capitalist states. - M.: Military publishing house, 1975. - S. 11.). But at the same time, both the first thermonuclear munition and the first ICBM were created precisely in the USSR.
2. Mikhail Pervov. Missile systems of the Strategic Missile Forces // Equipment and weapons. - 2001. - No. 5-6. - S. 44-45.
3. NII-1011 report on the justification of the design and calculations of the RDS-202 product.
6. Veselov A.V.
7. Such a date for the commencement of work is indicated in particular in
8. (Russian). Nuclear and thermonuclear weapons(unavailable link - history) . Retrieved September 28, 2012. .
9. Sakharov Andrei. memoirs. - New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. - P. 215–225. - ISBN 0-679-73595-X..
11. Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU. 1954–1964 Draft minutes of meetings. Transcripts. Decrees. / Ch. ed. A. A. Fursenko. - M.: Russian Political Encyclopedia (ROSSPEN), 2006. - T. 2.: Resolutions. 1954–1958 - 1120 p.
12. In various sources, the weight of AN602 is indicated from 24 tons to 27 tons. Here are data from: Veselov A.V. Tsar bomb // Atompressa. - 2006. - No. 43 (726). - S. 7.
13. Shirokorad A. B. Armament of Soviet aviation 1941-1991 / Under the general. ed. A. E. Taras. - Minsk: Harvest, 2004. - S. 420. - ISBN 985-13-2049-8.
14. XXII Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. October 17-31, 1961. Verbatim report. - M.: Politizdat, 1962. - T. 1. - S. 55.
15. (Russian) (the material also provides details of the tests of AN602).
16. , from. 420.
18. // www.nationalsecurity.ru
19. , from. 423.
20. Chernyshev A.K.(Deputy Supervisor of RFNC-VNIIEF for Testing Technologies).
21. For comparison: the average diameter of Moscow within the boundaries of the ring road is less than 35 km.
22. E. Farkas, "Transit of Pressure Waves through New Zealand from the Soviet 50 Megaton Bomb Explosion" Nature 4817 (24 February 1962): 765-766. (English)
25. More precisely, it is limited by a certain (very large) threshold of power, after which irreversible tectonic consequences occur - local destruction of the Earth's lithosphere.
26. Dyson, Freeman. Weapons and Hope (translated from English). - M .: Progress, 1990 (original - 1984). - S. 41-42. - ISBN 5-01-001882-9.
27. Instantaneous fission of 1000 kg of uranium provides an explosion with a capacity of approximately 18 megatons (See // Online encyclopedia Krugosvet). Consequently, to increase the explosion power by 50 megatons (the calculated "contribution" of the third stage of the bomb), about 2800 kg of uranium was needed.
28. , from. 419.
29. Mikhail Pervov. Missile systems of the Strategic Missile Forces // Equipment and weapons. - 2001 - No. 5-6. - S. 44.
30. Lawrence W. L. People and Atoms. - M.: Atomizdat. - 1967. - S. 137.

Sources

• . A Review of Nuclear Testing by the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya, 1955-1990 // Science and Global Security, 13:1-42, 2005.
• (English) . .

Links

• at strannik.de
• (video)
• on YouTube
• // 30.11.2015

Filmography

• d / f “Kuzkina mother. Tsar bomb. Soviet Apocalypse (dir. Igor Chernov, 2011)

An excerpt characterizing the Tsar Bomba

Before evening, the guard non-commissioned officer with two soldiers entered the church and announced to Pierre that he was forgiven and was now entering the barracks of prisoners of war. Not understanding what they told him, Pierre got up and went with the soldiers. He was led to the booths built at the top of the field from burnt boards, logs and hews and entered into one of them. In the darkness about twenty different people surrounded Pierre. Pierre looked at them, not understanding who these people were, why they were and what they wanted from him. He heard the words that were spoken to him, but did not draw any conclusion or application from them: he did not understand their meaning. He himself answered what was asked of him, but did not understand who was listening to him and how his answers would be understood. He looked at faces and figures, and they all seemed equally meaningless to him.
From the moment Pierre saw this terrible murder committed by people who did not want to do this, it was as if in his soul that spring was suddenly pulled out, on which everything was supported and seemed to be alive, and everything fell into a heap of senseless rubbish. In him, although he did not realize himself, faith was destroyed in the improvement of the world, and in the human, and in his soul, and in God. This state was experienced by Pierre before, but never with such force as now. Before, when such doubts were found on Pierre, these doubts had their source of guilt. And in the very depths of his soul, Pierre then felt that from that despair and those doubts there was salvation in himself. But now he felt that it was not his fault that the world had collapsed in his eyes and only meaningless ruins remained. He felt that it was not in his power to return to faith in life.
Around him in the darkness stood people: it is true that something interested them very much in him. They told him something, asked about something, then they took him somewhere, and he finally found himself in the corner of the booth next to some people who were talking from different sides, laughing.
“And now, my brothers ... the same prince who (with a special emphasis on the word which) ...” said a voice in the opposite corner of the booth.
Silently and motionlessly sitting against the wall on the straw, Pierre first opened and then closed his eyes. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he saw before him the same terrible, especially terrible in its simplicity, the face of a factory worker and the faces of unwitting murderers, even more terrible in their anxiety. And he opened his eyes again and stared senselessly in the darkness around him.
Sitting next to him, bent over, was a small man, whose presence Pierre noticed at first by the strong smell of sweat that separated from him with his every movement. This man was doing something in the dark with his legs, and, despite the fact that Pierre did not see his face, he felt that this man was constantly looking at him. Looking closely in the darkness, Pierre realized that this man was taking off his shoes. And the way he did it interested Pierre.
Unwinding the twine with which one leg was tied, he carefully folded the twine and immediately set to work on the other leg, looking at Pierre. While one hand was hanging the string, the other was already beginning to unwind the other leg. Thus, in neat, round, argumentative movements that followed one after another without slowing down, the man took off his shoes and hung his shoes on pegs driven in above his heads, took out a knife, cut something, folded the knife, put it under the head of the head and, having sat down better, hugged his raised knees with both hands and stared directly at Pierre. Pierre felt something pleasant, soothing and round in these disputed movements, in this well-organized household in the corner, in the smell of even this man, and he, without taking his eyes off, looked at him.
- And you saw a lot of need, master? BUT? said the little man suddenly. And such an expression of affection and simplicity was in the melodious voice of a man that Pierre wanted to answer, but his jaw trembled, and he felt tears. The little man at the same moment, without giving Pierre time to show his embarrassment, spoke in the same pleasant voice.
“Hey, falcon, don’t grieve,” he said with that softly melodious caress with which old Russian women speak. - Do not grieve, my friend: endure an hour, but live a century! That's it, my dear. And we live here, thank God, there is no offense. There are good and bad people, too,” he said, and, still speaking, with a flexible movement he leaned over on his knees, stood up and, clearing his throat, went somewhere.
- Look, rogue, come! - Pierre heard the same gentle voice at the end of the booth. - The rogue has come, remembers! Well, well, you will. - And the soldier, pushing away the little dog that jumped towards him, returned to his place and sat down. In his hands was something wrapped in a rag.
“Here, eat, master,” he said, again returning to his former respectful tone and unwrapping and serving Pierre several baked potatoes. - There was stew at dinner. And the potatoes are important!
Pierre had not eaten all day, and the smell of potatoes seemed to him unusually pleasant. He thanked the soldier and began to eat.
- Well, so then? - the soldier said smiling and took one of the potatoes. - And here's how you are. - He again took out a folding knife, cut the potatoes into equal two halves in his palm, sprinkled salt from a rag and brought it to Pierre.
“Potatoes are important,” he repeated. - You eat like this.
It seemed to Pierre that he had never eaten food tastier than this.
“No, it’s all right for me,” said Pierre, “but why did they shoot these unfortunates! .. The last one was about twenty years old.
“Tsk, tsk…” said the little man. “That’s a sin, that’s a sin ...” he quickly added, and, as if his words were always ready in his mouth and inadvertently flew out of him, he continued: “What is it, sir, did you stay in Moscow like that?
I didn't think they would come so soon. I accidentally stayed, - said Pierre.
- But how did they take you, falcon, from your house?
- No, I went to the fire, and then they grabbed me, they tried me for an arsonist.
“Where there is judgment, there is untruth,” put in the little man.
– How long have you been here? asked Pierre, chewing the last potato.
– I that? That Sunday I was taken from the hospital in Moscow.
Who are you, soldier?
- Soldiers of the Apsheron regiment. He died of a fever. They didn't tell us anything. There were twenty of our people. And they didn’t think, they didn’t guess.
- Well, are you bored here? Pierre asked.
- How boring, falcon. Call me Plato; Karataev’s nickname, ”he added, apparently in order to make it easier for Pierre to address him. - Nicknamed Falcon in the service. How not to be bored, falcon! Moscow, she is the mother of cities. How not to get bored looking at it. Yes, the worm is worse than cabbage, but before that you yourself disappear: that’s what the old people used to say, ”he added quickly.
- How, how did you say that? Pierre asked.
– I that? asked Karataev. “I say: not by our mind, but by God’s judgment,” he said, thinking that he was repeating what he had said. And immediately he continued: - How do you, master, have patrimonies? And do you have a house? So, a full bowl! And is there a hostess? Are the old parents still alive? he asked, and although Pierre did not see in the dark, he felt that the soldier's lips were wrinkled with a restrained smile of affection while he was asking this. He, apparently, was upset that Pierre did not have parents, especially a mother.
- A wife for advice, a mother-in-law for greetings, but there is no sweeter mother! - he said. - Well, do you have kids? he continued to ask. Pierre's negative answer again, apparently, upset him, and he hastened to add: - Well, young people, God willing, they will. If only to live in the council ...
“But now it doesn’t matter,” Pierre involuntarily said.
“Oh, you are a dear person,” Plato objected. - Never refuse the bag and the prison. He settled himself better, cleared his throat, apparently preparing himself for a long story. “So, my dear friend, I was still living at home,” he began. “Our patrimony is rich, there is a lot of land, the peasants live well, and our house, thank God. The father himself went out to mow. We lived well. Christians were real. It happened ... - And Platon Karataev told a long story about how he went to a strange grove beyond the forest and got caught by the watchman, how he was flogged, tried and handed over to the soldiers. “Well, falcon,” he said in a voice that changed from a smile, “they thought grief, but joy!” Brother would go, if not my sin. And the younger brother himself has five guys, - and I, look, have one soldier left. There was a girl, and even before the soldiery, God tidied up. I came to visit, I'll tell you. I look - they live better than before. The yard is full of stomachs, women are at home, two brothers are working. One Mikhailo, the smaller one, is at home. The father says: “To me, he says, all the children are equal: no matter what finger you bite, everything hurts. And if Plato had not been shaved then, Mikhail would have gone. He called us all - you believe - he put us in front of the image. Mikhailo, he says, come here, bow at his feet, and you, woman, bow, and bow to your grandchildren. Got it? He speaks. So, my dear friend. Rock heads looking. And we judge everything: it’s not good, it’s not okay. Our happiness, my friend, is like water in a nonsense: you pull - it puffed up, and you pull it out - there is nothing. So that. And Plato sat down on his straw.
After a few moments of silence, Plato stood up.
- Well, I'm tea, do you want to sleep? - he said and quickly began to cross himself, saying:
- Lord, Jesus Christ, Saint Nicholas, Frola and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ, Saint Nicholas! Frola and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ - have mercy and save us! - he concluded, bowed to the ground, got up and, sighing, sat down on his straw. - That's it. Put, God, a pebble, raise a ball, - he said and lay down, pulling on his overcoat.
What prayer did you read? Pierre asked.
- Ash? - Plato said (he was already asleep). - Read what? He prayed to God. And don't you pray?
“No, and I pray,” said Pierre. - But what did you say: Frola and Lavra?
- But what about, - Plato answered quickly, - a horse festival. And you need to feel sorry for the cattle, - said Karataev. - Look, the rogue, curled up. You've warmed up, you son of a bitch," he said, feeling the dog at his feet, and, turning again, immediately fell asleep.
Outside, weeping and shouting were heard somewhere in the distance, and fire was visible through the cracks of the booth; but it was quiet and dark in the booth. Pierre did not sleep for a long time and, with open eyes, lay in the darkness in his place, listening to the measured snoring of Plato, who lay beside him, and felt that the previously destroyed world was now being erected in his soul with new beauty, on some new and unshakable foundations.

In the booth, which Pierre entered and in which he stayed for four weeks, there were twenty-three captured soldiers, three officers and two officials.
All of them then appeared to Pierre as if in a fog, but Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre's soul the most powerful and dearest memory and personification of everything Russian, kind and round. When the next day, at dawn, Pierre saw his neighbor, the first impression of something round was completely confirmed: the whole figure of Plato in his French overcoat belted with a rope, in a cap and bast shoes, was round, his head was completely round, back, chest, shoulders, even the arms that he wore, as if always about to embrace something, were round; a pleasant smile and large brown gentle eyes were round.
Platon Karataev must have been over fifty years old, judging by his stories about the campaigns in which he participated as a longtime soldier. He himself did not know and could not in any way determine how old he was; but his teeth, bright white and strong, which kept rolling out in their two semicircles when he laughed (as he often did), were all good and whole; not a single gray hair was in his beard and hair, and his whole body had the appearance of flexibility and especially hardness and endurance.
His face, despite the small round wrinkles, had an expression of innocence and youth; his voice was pleasant and melodious. But the main feature of his speech was immediacy and argumentativeness. He apparently never thought about what he said and what he would say; and from this there was a special irresistible persuasiveness in the speed and fidelity of his intonations.
His physical strength and agility were such during the first time of captivity that he did not seem to understand what fatigue and illness were. Every day in the morning and in the evening, lying down, he said: “Lord, put it down with a pebble, raise it up with a ball”; in the morning, getting up, always shrugging his shoulders in the same way, he would say: "Lie down - curled up, get up - shake yourself." And indeed, as soon as he lay down to immediately fall asleep like a stone, and as soon as he shook himself, in order to immediately, without a second of delay, take up some business, the children, having risen, take up toys. He knew how to do everything, not very well, but not badly either. He baked, steamed, sewed, planed, made boots. He was always busy and only at night allowed himself to talk, which he loved, and songs. He sang songs, not like songwriters sing, knowing that they are being listened to, but he sang like birds sing, obviously because it was just as necessary for him to make these sounds, as it is necessary to stretch or disperse; and these sounds were always subtle, tender, almost feminine, mournful, and his face was very serious at the same time.
Having been taken prisoner and overgrown with a beard, he, apparently, threw away everything that was put on him, alien, soldierly, and involuntarily returned to the former, peasant, people's warehouse.
“A soldier on leave is a shirt made of trousers,” he used to say. He reluctantly spoke about his time as a soldier, although he did not complain, and often repeated that he had never been beaten during his entire service. When he told, he mainly told from his old and, apparently, dear memories of the "Christian", as he pronounced, peasant life. The proverbs that filled his speech were not those, for the most part, indecent and glib sayings that the soldiers say, but these were those folk sayings that seem so insignificant, taken separately, and which suddenly acquire the meaning of deep wisdom when they are said by the way.
Often he said the exact opposite of what he had said before, but both were true. He loved to talk and spoke well, embellishing his speech with endearing and proverbs, which, it seemed to Pierre, he himself invented; but the main charm of his stories was that in his speech the simplest events, sometimes the very ones that, without noticing them, Pierre saw, took on the character of solemn decorum. He liked to listen to fairy tales that one soldier told in the evenings (all the same), but most of all he liked to listen to stories about real life. He smiled joyfully as he listened to such stories, inserting words and asking questions that tended to make clear to himself the beauty of what was being told to him. Attachments, friendship, love, as Pierre understood them, Karataev did not have any; but he loved and lived lovingly with everything that life brought him, and especially with a person - not with some famous person, but with those people who were before his eyes. He loved his mutt, loved his comrades, the French, loved Pierre, who was his neighbor; but Pierre felt that Karataev, in spite of all his affectionate tenderness for him (which he involuntarily paid tribute to Pierre's spiritual life), would not have been upset for a minute by parting from him. And Pierre began to experience the same feeling for Karataev.
Platon Karataev was for all the other prisoners the most ordinary soldier; his name was falcon or Platosha, they good-naturedly mocked him, sent him for parcels. But for Pierre, as he presented himself on the first night, an incomprehensible, round and eternal personification of the spirit of simplicity and truth, he remained so forever.
Platon Karataev knew nothing by heart, except for his prayer. When he spoke his speeches, he, starting them, seemed not to know how he would end them.
When Pierre, sometimes struck by the meaning of his speech, asked to repeat what was said, Plato could not remember what he had said a minute ago, just as he could not in any way tell Pierre his favorite song with words. There it was: “dear, birch and I feel sick,” but the words did not make any sense. He did not understand and could not understand the meaning of words taken separately from the speech. Every word of his and every action was a manifestation of an activity unknown to him, which was his life. But his life, as he himself looked at it, had no meaning as a separate life. It only made sense as a part of the whole, which he constantly felt. His words and actions poured out of him as evenly, as necessary and immediately, as a scent separates from a flower. He could not understand either the price or the meaning of a single action or word.

Having received news from Nikolai that her brother was with the Rostovs in Yaroslavl, Princess Mary, despite her aunt's dissuades, immediately prepared to go, and not only alone, but with her nephew. Whether it was difficult, easy, possible or impossible, she did not ask and did not want to know: her duty was not only to be near, perhaps, her dying brother, but also to do everything possible to bring him a son, and she got up. drive. If Prince Andrei himself did not notify her, then Princess Mary explained that either by the fact that he was too weak to write, or by the fact that he considered this long journey too difficult and dangerous for her and his son.
In a few days, Princess Mary got ready for the journey. Her crews consisted of a huge princely carriage, in which she arrived in Voronezh, chaises and wagons. M lle Bourienne, Nikolushka with her tutor, an old nanny, three girls, Tikhon, a young footman and a haiduk, whom her aunt had let go with her, rode with her.
It was impossible to even think of going to Moscow in the usual way, and therefore the roundabout way that Princess Mary had to take: to Lipetsk, Ryazan, Vladimir, Shuya, was very long, due to the lack of post horses everywhere, it is very difficult and near Ryazan, where, as they said, the French showed up, even dangerous.
During this difficult journey, m lle Bourienne, Dessalles and the servants of Princess Mary were surprised by her fortitude and activity. She went to bed later than everyone else, got up earlier than everyone else, and no difficulties could stop her. Thanks to her activity and energy, which aroused her companions, by the end of the second week they were approaching Yaroslavl.
During the last time of her stay in Voronezh, Princess Marya experienced the best happiness in her life. Her love for Rostov no longer tormented her, did not excite her. This love filled her whole soul, became an indivisible part of herself, and she no longer fought against it. Of late, Princess Marya became convinced—although she never said this clearly to herself in words—she was convinced that she was loved and loved. She was convinced of this during her last meeting with Nikolai, when he came to her to announce that her brother was with the Rostovs. Nikolai did not hint in a single word that now (in the event of the recovery of Prince Andrei) the former relations between him and Natasha could be resumed, but Princess Marya saw from his face that he knew and thought this. And, despite the fact that his relationship to her - cautious, tender and loving - not only did not change, but he seemed to be glad that now the relationship between him and Princess Marya allowed him to more freely express his friendship to her love, as she sometimes thought Princess Mary. Princess Marya knew that she loved for the first and last time in her life, and felt that she was loved, and was happy, calm in this respect.
But this happiness of one side of her soul not only did not prevent her from feeling grief for her brother with all her strength, but, on the contrary, this peace of mind in one respect gave her a great opportunity to give herself completely to her feelings for her brother. This feeling was so strong in the first minute of leaving Voronezh that those who saw her off were sure, looking at her exhausted, desperate face, that she would certainly fall ill on the way; but it was precisely the difficulties and worries of the journey, which Princess Marya undertook with such activity, saved her for a while from her grief and gave her strength.
As always happens during a trip, Princess Marya thought about only one trip, forgetting what was his goal. But, approaching Yaroslavl, when something that could await her again opened up, and not many days later, but this evening, Princess Mary's excitement reached its extreme limits.
When a haiduk sent ahead to find out in Yaroslavl where the Rostovs were and in what position Prince Andrei was, he met a large carriage driving in at the outpost, he was horrified to see the terribly pale face of the princess, which stuck out to him from the window.
- I found out everything, Your Excellency: the Rostov people are standing on the square, in the house of the merchant Bronnikov. Not far, above the Volga itself, - said the haiduk.
Princess Mary looked at his face in a frightened questioning way, not understanding what he was saying to her, not understanding why he did not answer the main question: what is a brother? M lle Bourienne made this question for Princess Mary.
- What is the prince? she asked.
“Their excellencies are in the same house with them.
“So he is alive,” thought the princess, and quietly asked: what is he?
“People said they were all in the same position.
What did “everything in the same position” mean, the princess did not ask, and only briefly, glancing imperceptibly at the seven-year-old Nikolushka, who was sitting in front of her and rejoicing at the city, lowered her head and did not raise it until the heavy carriage, rattling, shaking and swaying, did not stop somewhere. The folding footboards rattled.
The doors opened. On the left was water - a big river, on the right was a porch; there were people on the porch, servants, and some sort of ruddy-faced girl with a big black plait, who smiled unpleasantly feignedly, as it seemed to Princess Marya (it was Sonya). The princess ran up the stairs, the smiling girl said: “Here, here!” - and the princess found herself in the hall in front of an old woman with an oriental type of face, who, with a touched expression, quickly walked towards her. It was the Countess. She embraced Princess Mary and began to kiss her.
- Mon enfant! she said, je vous aime et vous connais depuis longtemps. [My child! I love you and have known you for a long time.]
Despite all her excitement, Princess Marya realized that it was the countess and that she had to say something. She, not knowing how herself, uttered some courteous French words, in the same tone as those that were spoken to her, and asked: what is he?
“The doctor says there is no danger,” said the countess, but while she was saying this, she raised her eyes with a sigh, and in this gesture there was an expression that contradicted her words.
- Where is he? Can you see him, can you? the princess asked.
- Now, princess, now, my friend. Is this his son? she said, turning to Nikolushka, who was entering with Desalle. We can all fit, the house is big. Oh what a lovely boy!
The countess led the princess into the drawing room. Sonya was talking to m lle Bourienne. The countess caressed the boy. The old count entered the room, greeting the princess. The old count has changed tremendously since the princess last saw him. Then he was a lively, cheerful, self-confident old man, now he seemed a miserable, lost person. He, speaking with the princess, constantly looked around, as if asking everyone whether he was doing what was necessary. After the ruin of Moscow and his estate, knocked out of his usual rut, he apparently lost consciousness of his significance and felt that he no longer had a place in life.
Despite the excitement in which she was, despite one desire to see her brother as soon as possible and annoyance because at that moment, when she only wants to see him, she is occupied and pretended to praise her nephew, the princess noticed everything that was going on around her, and felt the need for a time to submit to this new order into which she was entering. She knew that all this was necessary, and it was difficult for her, but she did not get annoyed with them.
“This is my niece,” said the count, introducing Sonya, “do you not know her, princess?”
The princess turned to her and, trying to extinguish the hostile feeling for this girl that had risen in her soul, kissed her. But it became difficult for her because the mood of everyone around her was so far from what was in her soul.
- Where is he? she asked again, addressing everyone.
“He’s downstairs, Natasha is with him,” answered Sonya, blushing. - Let's go find out. I think you are tired, princess?
The princess had tears of annoyance in her eyes. She turned away and wanted to ask the countess again where to go to him, when light, swift, as if cheerful steps were heard at the door. The princess looked round and saw Natasha almost running in, the same Natasha whom she did not like so much on that old meeting in Moscow.
But before the princess had time to look at the face of this Natasha, she realized that this was her sincere comrade in grief, and therefore her friend. She rushed to meet her and, embracing her, wept on her shoulder.
As soon as Natasha, who was sitting at the head of Prince Andrei, found out about the arrival of Princess Marya, she quietly left his room with those quick, as it seemed to Princess Marya, as if with cheerful steps, and ran to her.
On her excited face, when she ran into the room, there was only one expression - an expression of love, boundless love for him, for her, for everything that was close to a loved one, an expression of pity, suffering for others and a passionate desire to give herself all for in order to help them. It was evident that at that moment not a single thought about herself, about her relationship to him, was in Natasha's soul.
The sensitive Princess Marya, at the first glance at Natasha's face, understood all this and wept on her shoulder with sorrowful pleasure.
“Come on, let’s go to him, Marie,” Natasha said, taking her to another room.
Princess Mary raised her face, wiped her eyes, and turned to Natasha. She felt that she would understand and learn everything from her.
“What…” she began to question, but suddenly stopped. She felt that words could neither ask nor answer. Natasha's face and eyes should have said everything more clearly and deeply.
Natasha looked at her, but seemed to be in fear and doubt - to say or not to say everything that she knew; she seemed to feel that before those radiant eyes, penetrating into the very depths of her heart, it was impossible not to tell the whole, the whole truth as she saw it. Natasha's lip suddenly trembled, ugly wrinkles formed around her mouth, and she, sobbing, covered her face with her hands.
Princess Mary understood everything.
But she still hoped and asked in words in which she did not believe:
But how is his wound? In general, what position is he in?
“You, you ... will see,” Natasha could only say.
They sat for some time downstairs near his room in order to stop crying and come in to him with calm faces.
- How was the illness? Has he gotten worse? When did it happen? asked Princess Mary.
Natasha said that at first there was a danger from a feverish state and from suffering, but in the Trinity this passed, and the doctor was afraid of one thing - Antonov's fire. But that danger was over. When we arrived in Yaroslavl, the wound began to fester (Natasha knew everything about suppuration, etc.), and the doctor said that suppuration could go right. There was a fever. The doctor said that this fever was not so dangerous.
“But two days ago,” Natasha began, “it suddenly happened ...” She restrained her sobs. “I don't know why, but you'll see what he's become.
- Weakened? lost weight? .. - the princess asked.
No, not that, but worse. You will see. Ah, Marie, Marie, he's too good, he can't, can't live... because...

When Natasha, with a habitual movement, opened his door, letting the princess pass in front of her, Princess Marya already felt ready sobs in her throat. No matter how much she prepared herself, or tried to calm down, she knew that she would not be able to see him without tears.
Princess Mary understood what Natasha meant in words: it happened to him two days ago. She understood that this meant that he suddenly softened, and that softening, tenderness, these were signs of death. As she approached the door, she already saw in her imagination that face of Andryusha, which she had known since childhood, tender, meek, tender, which he had so rarely seen and therefore always had such a strong effect on her. She knew that he would say to her quiet, tender words, like those that her father had said to her before his death, and that she could not bear it and burst into tears over him. But, sooner or later, it had to be, and she entered the room. Sobs came closer and closer to her throat, while with her short-sighted eyes she more and more clearly distinguished his form and searched for his features, and now she saw his face and met his gaze.
He was lying on the sofa, padded with pillows, in a squirrel-fur robe. He was thin and pale. One thin, transparently white hand held a handkerchief, with the other, with quiet movements of his fingers, he touched his thin overgrown mustache. His eyes were on those who entered.

Tsar Bomba is the name of the AN602 hydrogen bomb, which was tested in the Soviet Union in 1961. This bomb was the most powerful ever detonated. Its power was such that the flash from the explosion was visible for 1000 km, and the nuclear mushroom rose almost 70 km.

The Tsar bomb was a hydrogen bomb. It was created in Kurchatov's laboratory. The power of the bomb was such that it would be enough for 3800 Hiroshima.

Let's remember the history of its creation.

At the beginning of the "atomic age", the United States and the Soviet Union entered into a race not only in the number of atomic bombs, but also in their power.

The USSR, which acquired atomic weapons later than its competitor, sought to equalize the situation by creating more advanced and more powerful devices.

The development of a thermonuclear device codenamed "Ivan" was started in the mid-1950s by a group of physicists led by academician Kurchatov. The group involved in this project included Andrei Sakharov, Viktor Adamsky, Yuri Babaev, Yuri Trunov and Yuri Smirnov.

In the course of research, scientists also tried to find the limits of the maximum power of a thermonuclear explosive device.

The theoretical possibility of obtaining energy by thermonuclear fusion was known even before the Second World War, but it was the war and the subsequent arms race that raised the question of creating a technical device for the practical creation of this reaction. It is known that in Germany in 1944, work was underway to initiate thermonuclear fusion by compressing nuclear fuel using charges of conventional explosives - but they were unsuccessful, since they could not obtain the necessary temperatures and pressures. The USA and the USSR have been developing thermonuclear weapons since the 1940s, having tested the first thermonuclear devices almost simultaneously in the early 1950s. In 1952, on the Enewetok Atoll, the United States carried out an explosion of a charge with a capacity of 10.4 megatons (which is 450 times the power of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki), and in 1953 a device with a capacity of 400 kilotons was tested in the USSR.

The designs of the first thermonuclear devices were ill-suited for real combat use. For example, a device tested by the United States in 1952 was an above-ground structure as high as a 2-story building and weighing over 80 tons. Liquid thermonuclear fuel was stored in it with the help of a huge refrigeration unit. Therefore, in the future, the mass production of thermonuclear weapons was carried out using solid fuel - lithium-6 deuteride. In 1954, the United States tested a device based on it at Bikini Atoll, and in 1955, a new Soviet thermonuclear bomb was tested at the Semipalatinsk test site. In 1957, a hydrogen bomb was tested in the UK.

Design studies lasted for several years, and the final stage of development of the "product 602" fell on 1961 and took 112 days.

The AN602 bomb had a three-stage design: the nuclear charge of the first stage (the estimated contribution to the explosion power is 1.5 megatons) triggered a thermonuclear reaction in the second stage (the contribution to the explosion power is 50 megatons), and it, in turn, initiated the so-called nuclear " the Jekyll-Hyde reaction” (fission of nuclei in blocks of uranium-238 under the action of fast neutrons produced as a result of a thermonuclear fusion reaction) in the third stage (another 50 megatons of power), so that the total estimated power of AN602 was 101.5 megatons.

However, the original version was rejected, because in this form it would cause extremely powerful radiation pollution (which, however, according to calculations, would still be seriously inferior to that caused by much less powerful American devices).
In the end, it was decided not to use the "Jekyll-Hyde reaction" in the third stage of the bomb and replace the uranium components with their lead equivalent. This reduced the estimated total explosion power by almost half (to 51.5 megatons).

Another limitation for developers was the capabilities of aircraft. The first version of a bomb weighing 40 tons was rejected by aircraft designers from the Tupolev Design Bureau - the carrier aircraft could not deliver such a load to the target.

As a result, the parties reached a compromise - nuclear scientists reduced the weight of the bomb by half, and aviation designers prepared for it a special modification of the Tu-95 bomber - Tu-95V.

It turned out that it would not be possible to place a charge in the bomb bay under any circumstances, so the Tu-95V had to carry the AN602 to the target on a special external sling.

In fact, the carrier aircraft was ready in 1959, but the nuclear physicists were instructed not to force work on the bomb - just at that moment there were signs of a decrease in tension in international relations in the world.

In early 1961, however, the situation escalated again, and the project was revived.

The final weight of the bomb, together with the parachute system, was 26.5 tons. The product turned out to have several names at once - "Big Ivan", "Tsar Bomba" and "Kuzkin's mother". The latter stuck to the bomb after the speech of the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to the Americans, in which he promised them to show "Kuzkin's mother."

The fact that the Soviet Union was planning to test a super-powerful thermonuclear charge in the near future was quite openly told by Khrushchev to foreign diplomats in 1961. On October 17, 1961, the Soviet leader announced the upcoming tests in a report at the XXII Party Congress.

The test site was the Dry Nose test site on Novaya Zemlya. Preparations for the explosion were completed in the last days of October 1961.

The Tu-95V carrier aircraft was based at the airfield in Vaenga. Here, in a special room, the final preparation for the tests was carried out.

On the morning of October 30, 1961, the crew of pilot Andrei Durnovtsev received an order to fly to the test site area and drop a bomb.

Taking off from the airfield in Vaenga, the Tu-95V reached the calculated point two hours later. A bomb on a parachute system was dropped from a height of 10,500 meters, after which the pilots immediately began to withdraw the car from the dangerous area.

At 11:33 Moscow time, an explosion was made above the target at an altitude of 4 km.

The power of the explosion significantly exceeded the calculated one (51.5 megatons) and ranged from 57 to 58.6 megatons in TNT equivalent.

Operating principle:

The action of a hydrogen bomb is based on the use of energy released during the reaction of thermonuclear fusion of light nuclei. It is this reaction that takes place in the interiors of stars, where, under the influence of ultrahigh temperatures and gigantic pressure, hydrogen nuclei collide and merge into heavier helium nuclei. During the reaction, part of the mass of hydrogen nuclei is converted into a large amount of energy - thanks to this, stars release a huge amount of energy constantly. Scientists copied this reaction using hydrogen isotopes - deuterium and tritium, which gave the name "hydrogen bomb". Initially, liquid isotopes of hydrogen were used to produce charges, and later lithium-6 deuteride, a solid compound of deuterium and an isotope of lithium, was used.

Lithium-6 deuteride is the main component of the hydrogen bomb, thermonuclear fuel. It already stores deuterium, and the lithium isotope serves as a raw material for the formation of tritium. To start a fusion reaction, it is necessary to create high temperatures and pressures, as well as to isolate tritium from lithium-6. These conditions are provided as follows.

The shell of the container for thermonuclear fuel is made of uranium-238 and plastic, next to the container is placed a conventional nuclear charge with a capacity of several kilotons - it is called a trigger, or a charge-initiator of a hydrogen bomb. During the explosion of the initiating plutonium charge, under the influence of powerful X-ray radiation, the container shell turns into plasma, shrinking thousands of times, which creates the necessary high pressure and enormous temperature. At the same time, neutrons emitted by plutonium interact with lithium-6, forming tritium. The nuclei of deuterium and tritium interact under the influence of ultra-high temperature and pressure, which leads to a thermonuclear explosion.

If you make several layers of uranium-238 and lithium-6 deuteride, then each of them will add its power to the bomb explosion - that is, such a "puff" allows you to increase the power of the explosion almost unlimitedly. Thanks to this, a hydrogen bomb can be made of almost any power, and it will be much cheaper than a conventional nuclear bomb of the same power.

Witnesses of the test say that they have never seen anything like it in their lives. The nuclear mushroom explosion rose to a height of 67 kilometers, light radiation could potentially cause third-degree burns at a distance of up to 100 kilometers.

Observers reported that at the epicenter of the explosion, the rocks took on a surprisingly even shape, and the earth turned into a kind of military parade ground. Complete destruction was achieved on an area equal to the territory of Paris.

Atmospheric ionization caused radio interference even hundreds of kilometers from the test site for about 40 minutes. The lack of radio communication convinced the scientists that the tests went well. The shock wave resulting from the explosion of the Tsar Bomba circled the globe three times. The sound wave generated by the explosion reached Dixon Island at a distance of about 800 kilometers.

Despite heavy cloud cover, witnesses saw the explosion even at a distance of thousands of kilometers and could describe it.

The radioactive contamination from the explosion turned out to be minimal, as the developers had planned - more than 97% of the explosion power was produced by a thermonuclear fusion reaction that practically did not create radioactive contamination.

This allowed scientists to start studying the test results on the experimental field two hours after the explosion.

The explosion of the Tsar Bomba really made an impression on the whole world. It turned out to be four times more powerful than the most powerful American bomb.

There was a theoretical possibility of creating even more powerful charges, but it was decided to abandon the implementation of such projects.

Oddly enough, the main skeptics were the military. From their point of view, such a weapon had no practical meaning. How would you order him to be delivered to the "enemy's lair"? The USSR already had missiles, but they could not fly to America with such a load.

Strategic bombers were also unable to fly to the United States with such a "luggage". In addition, they became an easy target for air defense systems.

Atomic scientists turned out to be much more enthusiastic. Plans were put forward to place several superbombs with a capacity of 200-500 megatons off the coast of the United States, the explosion of which was supposed to cause a giant tsunami that would literally wash America away.

Academician Andrei Sakharov, a future human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, put forward a different plan. “The carrier can be a large torpedo launched from a submarine. I fantasized that it was possible to develop a direct-flow water-steam atomic jet engine for such a torpedo. The target of an attack from a distance of several hundred kilometers should be the ports of the enemy. The war at sea is lost if the ports are destroyed, the sailors assure us of this. The body of such a torpedo can be very durable, it will not be afraid of mines and obstacle nets. Of course, the destruction of ports - both by a surface explosion of a torpedo with a 100-megaton charge that “jumped out” of the water, and an underwater explosion - is inevitably associated with very large human casualties, ”the scientist wrote in his memoirs.

Sakharov told Vice Admiral Pyotr Fomin about his idea. An experienced sailor, who headed the "atomic department" under the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, was horrified by the scientist's plan, calling the project "cannibalistic". According to Sakharov, he was ashamed and never returned to this idea.

Scientists and the military received generous awards for the successful testing of the Tsar Bomba, but the very idea of ​​super-powerful thermonuclear charges began to become a thing of the past.

The designers of nuclear weapons focused on things less spectacular, but much more effective.

And the explosion of the "Tsar Bomba" to this day remains the most powerful of those that have ever been produced by mankind.

Tsar bomb in numbers:

Weight: 27 tons
Length: 8 meters
Diameter: 2 meters
Capacity: 55 megatons of TNT
Nuclear mushroom height: 67 km
Mushroom base diameter: 40 km
Fireball diameter: 4.6 km
Distance at which the explosion caused skin burns: 100 km
Explosion visibility distance: 1000 km
The amount of TNT needed to match the power of the Tsar Bomb: a giant TNT cube with a side of 312 meters (the height of the Eiffel Tower).

55 years ago, on October 30, 1961, the Soviet Union tested at the Novaya Zemlya test site (Arkhangelsk region) the most powerful thermonuclear device in the world - an experimental aviation hydrogen bomb with a capacity of about 58 megatons of TNT ("product 602"; unofficial names: "Tsar -bomb", "Kuzkin's mother"). The thermonuclear charge was dropped from a converted Tu-95 strategic bomber and detonated at an altitude of 3.7 thousand meters above the ground.

Nuclear (atomic) weapons are based on an uncontrolled chain reaction of fission of heavy atomic nuclei.

To carry out a fission chain reaction, either uranium-235 or plutonium-239 (less often uranium-233) is used. Thermonuclear weapons (hydrogen bombs) involve the use of the energy of an uncontrolled nuclear fusion reaction, that is, the transformation of light elements into heavier ones (for example, two "heavy hydrogen" atoms, deuterium, into one helium atom). Thermonuclear weapons have a higher explosive yield than conventional nuclear bombs.

Development of thermonuclear weapons in the USSR

In the USSR, the development of thermonuclear weapons began in the late 1940s. Andrei Sakharov, Yuli Khariton, Igor Tamm and other scientists at Design Bureau No. 11 (KB-11, known as Arzamas-16; now the Russian Federal Nuclear Center - All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics, RFNC-VNIIEF; city of Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod region.) . In 1949, the first draft of a thermonuclear weapon was developed. The first Soviet hydrogen bomb RDS-6 with a capacity of 400 kilotons was tested on August 12, 1953 at the Semipalatinsk test site (Kazakh SSR, now Kazakhstan). Unlike the United States, which tested the first Ivy Mike thermonuclear explosive device on November 1, 1952, the RDS-6s was a complete bomber capable of being delivered by a bomber. Ivy Mike weighed 73.8 tons and was more like a small factory in size, but the power of its explosion was at that time a record 10.4 megatons.

"Tsar-torpedo"

In the early 1950s, when it became clear that a thermonuclear charge was the most promising in terms of explosive power, a discussion began in the USSR about the method of its delivery. Rocket armament at that time was imperfect; the USSR Air Force did not have bombers capable of delivering heavy charges.

Therefore, on September 12, 1952, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, signed a decree "On the design and construction of object 627" - a submarine with a nuclear power plant. Initially, it was assumed that it would be the carrier of a torpedo with a thermonuclear charge T-15 with a yield of up to 100 megatons, the main target of which would be enemy naval bases and port cities. The main developer of the torpedo was Andrey Sakharov.

Subsequently, in his book "Memoirs", the scientist wrote that Rear Admiral Pyotr Fomin, who was in charge of the project 627 from the side of the fleet, was shocked by the "cannibalistic nature" of the T-15. According to Sakharov, Fomin told him "that naval sailors are accustomed to fighting an armed enemy in open combat" and that for him "the very thought of such a massacre is disgusting." Subsequently, this conversation influenced Sakharov's decision to engage in human rights activities. The T-15 was never put into service due to unsuccessful tests in the mid-1950s, and the Project 627 submarine received conventional, non-nuclear torpedoes.

Projects of super-powerful charges

The decision to create an aviation super-powerful thermonuclear charge was made by the government of the USSR in November 1955. Initially, the bomb was developed by the Scientific Research Institute No. Academician E. I. Zababakhin, RFNC-VNIITF, city of Snezhinsk, Chelyabinsk region).

Since the end of 1955, under the leadership of the chief designer of the institute, Kirill Shchelkin, work has been carried out on "product 202" (design capacity - about 30 megatons). However, in 1958, the top leadership of the country closed work in this direction.

Two years later, on July 10, 1961, at a meeting with the developers and creators of nuclear weapons, the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikita Khrushchev announced the decision of the country's leadership to start developing and testing a hydrogen bomb of 100 megatons. The work was entrusted to employees of KB-11. Under the leadership of Andrei Sakharov, a group of theoretical physicists developed the "product 602" (AN-602). For it, a case already made at NII-1011 was used.

Characteristics of the "Tsar bomb"

The bomb was a ballistic streamlined body with a tail.

The dimensions of the "product 602" were the same as those of the "product 202". Length - 8 m, diameter - 2.1 m, weight - 26.5 tons.

The estimated power of the charge was 100 megatons of TNT. But after experts assessed the impact of such an explosion on the environment, it was decided to test a bomb with a reduced charge.

The heavy strategic bomber Tu-95, which received the "B" index, was converted for the transportation of aerial bombs. Due to the impossibility of placing it in the bomb bay of the machine, a special suspension device was developed to ensure that the bomb was lifted to the fuselage and fixed on three synchronously controlled locks.

The safety of the crew of the carrier aircraft was ensured by a specially designed system of several parachutes near the bomb: exhaust, braking and the main area of ​​1.6 thousand square meters. m. They were ejected from the rear of the hull one by one, slowing down the fall of the bomb (up to a speed of about 20-25 m / s). During this time, the Tu-95V managed to fly away from the explosion site to a safe distance.

The leadership of the USSR did not hide the intention to test a powerful thermonuclear device. On October 17, 1961, at the opening of the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Nikita Khrushchev announced the forthcoming test: I want to say that tests of new nuclear weapons are also going very successfully. We will complete these tests soon. Apparently at the end of October. In conclusion, we will probably detonate a hydrogen bomb with a capacity of 50 million tons of TNT. We said that we have a bomb of 100 million tons of TNT. And that's right. But we will not detonate such a bomb."

On October 27, 1961, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in which it called on the USSR to refrain from testing a super-powerful bomb.

Trial

The test of the experimental "product 602" took place on October 30, 1961 at the Novaya Zemlya test site. Tu-95V with a crew of nine (lead pilot - Andrey Durnovtsev, lead navigator - Ivan Kleshch) took off from the Olenya military airfield on the Kola Peninsula. The air bomb was dropped from a height of 10.5 km onto the site of the Northern Island of the archipelago, in the area of ​​the Matochkin Shar Strait. The explosion occurred at an altitude of 3.7 km from the ground and 4.2 km above sea level, for 188 seconds. after the separation of the bomb from the bomber.

The flash lasted 65-70 seconds. "Nuclear mushroom" rose to a height of 67 km, the diameter of the red-hot dome reached 20 km. The cloud retained its shape for a long time and was visible at a distance of several hundred kilometers. Despite continuous cloudiness, the light flash was observed at a distance of more than 1000 km. The shock wave circled the globe three times, due to electromagnetic radiation for 40-50 minutes. radio communication was interrupted for many hundreds of kilometers from the test site. Radioactive contamination in the area of ​​the epicenter turned out to be small (1 milliroentgen per hour), so research personnel were able to work there without health hazard 2 hours after the explosion.

According to experts, the power of the superbomb was about 58 megatons of TNT. This is about three thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima in 1945 (13 kilotons).

The shooting of the test was carried out both from the ground and from the Tu-95V, which at the time of the explosion managed to retreat to a distance of more than 45 km, as well as from the Il-14 aircraft (at the time of the explosion it was at a distance of 55 km). At the latter, Marshal of the Soviet Union Kirill Moskalenko and Minister of Medium Machine Building of the USSR Efim Slavsky watched the tests.

World reaction to the Soviet superbomb

The demonstration by the Soviet Union of the possibility of creating thermonuclear charges of unlimited power pursued the goal of establishing parity in nuclear tests, primarily with the United States.

After lengthy negotiations, on August 5, 1963 in Moscow, representatives of the USA, the USSR and Great Britain signed the Treaty on the Ban on Nuclear Weapons Tests in Outer Space, Under Water and on the Surface of the Earth. Since its entry into force, the USSR has carried out only underground nuclear tests. The last explosion was carried out on October 24, 1990 at Novaya Zemlya, after which the Soviet Union announced a unilateral moratorium on nuclear weapons testing. Russia is currently following this moratorium.

Creator Awards

In 1962, for the successful testing of the most powerful thermonuclear bomb, the crew members of the carrier aircraft Andrei Durnovtsev and Ivan Kleshch were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Eight employees of KB-11 were awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (of which Andrei Sakharov received it for the third time), 40 employees became laureates of the Lenin Prize.

"Tsar bomb" in museums

Full-size models of the Tsar Bomba (without control systems and warheads) are stored in the RFNC-VNIIEF museums in Sarov (the first national museum of nuclear weapons; opened in 1992) and RFNC-VNIITF in Snezhinsk.

In September 2015, the Sarov bomb was exhibited at the Moscow exhibition "70 Years of the Nuclear Industry. Chain Reaction of Success" in the Central Manege.