Raduga (nuclear test)

Raduga (in Russian Радуга, Rainbow) is the codename of a Soviet thermonuclear test, conducted on October 20, 1961, in Mityushikha Bay, Severny Island of Novaya Zemlya.

Raduga
Information
Country	Soviet Union
Test site	Novaya Zemlya Test Range, Russian Federation
Period	October 1961
Number of tests	1
Test type	Atmospheric Test
Device type	Fusion
Max. yield	Total yield 1,450 kilotons of TNT (6,100 TJ)
Test chronology
← KSR-2 wh RDS-9 →

The test was conducted by the Northern Fleet. An R-13 missile with a thermonuclear warhead was fired from the submarine K-102. When the submarine reached the specified point in the Barents Sea, she could not establish her position due to cloudiness and snowfall. A R-13 missile without a nuclear warhead was fired first, which missed the aiming point by a wide margin. It was decided to continue the test in spite of bad weather. The second missile performed better and its miss distance was less than the previous one, and detonated at 1,000 m (3,300 ft) height, yielding 1.45 megatons.

See also

• Tsar bomba

References

• "Shitikov, E. A.: Боевые стрельбы с ядерными взрывами" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2010-12-31.
• Atomicforum: Database of Russian Atmospheric Nuclear Tests (compiled in web.archive.org)

73.8700°N 54.3500°E / 73.8700; 54.3500