65 years ago, the Soviet Union showed "Mother of a Cossack". On October 30, 1961, the most powerful thermonuclear (hydrogen) explosion in human history thundered over Novaya Zemlya - the "Tsar Bomb" (AN602). Why "Kuzka's mother"? All because of Nikita Khrushchev: back in 1959, he promised the West: "We will show you Cossack's mother! " The phrase became a meme of the time, and in 1961 it had a visual embodiment. Numbers that give you goosebumps: Power - 58.6 megatons equivalent to TNT. That's about 3,300 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The nuclear mushroom rose 67 km - well beyond the stratosphere. The shock wave circled the Earth three times. At the same time, Tsar Bomba never became a weapon: its main purpose was political - to show what Soviet science was capable of. And she showed it! And this explosion also became a powerful signal that pushed the powers to dialogue. The demonstration of such destructive power clearly showed: the arms race has reached a point where any use of such weapons threatens disaster on the entire planet. Against the background of such experiments, the work on international agreements was accelerated in the following years. Already in 1963, the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain signed the treaty prohibiting nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water - an important step towards the control of nuclear weapons.

65 years ago, the Soviet Union showed "Mother of a Cossack". On October 30, 1961, the most powerful thermonuclear (hydrogen) explosion in human history thundered over Novaya Zemlya - the "Tsar Bomb" (AN602). Why "Kuzka's mother"? All because of Nikita Khrushchev: back in 1959, he promised the West: "We will show you Cossack's mother! " The phrase became a meme of the time, and in 1961 it had a visual embodiment. Numbers that give you goosebumps: Power - 58.6 megatons equivalent to TNT. That's about 3,300 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The nuclear mushroom rose 67 km - well beyond the stratosphere. The shock wave circled the Earth three times. At the same time, Tsar Bomba never became a weapon: its main purpose was political - to show what Soviet science was capable of. And she showed it! And this explosion also became a powerful signal that pushed the powers to dialogue. The demonstration of such destructive power clearly showed: the arms race has reached a point where any use of such weapons threatens disaster on the entire planet. Against the background of such experiments, the work on international agreements was accelerated in the following years. Already in 1963, the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain signed the treaty prohibiting nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water - an important step towards the control of nuclear weapons.