This Day in History-May 21, 1956

The United States Explodes Hydrogen Bomb Over Bikini Atoll.

On May 21, 1956, the United States conducted the first test of an improved hydrogen bomb when it was dropped from a plane over the small Pacific island of Bikini Atoll. The successful test of this bomb highlighted that hydrogen bombs could now be used as viable airborne weapons and indicated a new escalation in the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The United States had begun conducting nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946, nearly a year after the first Atomic Bombs had been dropped over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These early bombs, however, were large and difficult to control, and were exploded from the ground. A practical application of exploding a bomb in the air over an enemy city was a merely theoretical possibility until the successful test at Bikini Atoll in May 1956. A B-52 bomber carried the weapon that was dropped over Bikini Atoll and was released at an altitude of more than 50,000 feet. The bomb exploded at 15,000 feet above the target. The bomb proved to be more powerful than those that had previously been tested and it was estimated to be at 15 megatons or more. According to observers of the test, the explosion created a fireball that was measured to be at least four miles in diameter and was said to be brighter than the light of 500 suns.

With the successful test, the arms race between the Superpowers had entered a whole new level. Both nations had already been testing Hydrogen Bombs for several years. The Soviets had conducted it's first test of an atomic bomb in 1953, and the United States had first test of one the previous year. The Soviets had dropped one over a remote area in Siberia in November 1955, and though it was smaller and less powerful, the successful test motivated the Americans to speed up it's airborne test of an Hydrogen Bomb at Bikini Atoll.

The successful Bikini Atoll test did generate some come concern among Scientists and environmentalists regarding the negative effects of the radiation fallout of the tests on human and animal life. During the succeeding years following the tests, a growing movement would advocate for a a total ban on open-air nuclear testing. 1963, this culminated in the Limited Test Ban Treaty, signed by the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain, which banned open-air and underwater nuclear testing.

Source Article: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-drops-hydrogen-bomb-over-bikini-atoll

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