RDS-1

50°26′15″N 77°48′51″E / 50.43750°N 77.81417°E / 50.43750; 77.81417

RDS-1
The first Soviet atomic bomb, "RDS-1", was an implosion-type, like the U.S. "Fat Man" bomb, even in appearance; the front "eyes" are radar fuzes.
TypeNuclear weapon
Place of originSoviet Union
Specifications
Mass4.6 tons

Blast yield22 kt (92 TJ)

The RDS-1 (Russian: РДС-1), also known as Izdeliye 501 (device 501) and First Lightning (Russian: Пе́рвая мо́лния, romanized: Pyérvaya mólniya, IPA: [ˈpʲervəjə ˈmolnʲɪjə]),[1] was the nuclear bomb used in the Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon test. The United States assigned it the code-name Joe-1, in reference to Joseph Stalin. It was detonated on 29 August 1949 at 7:00 a.m.,[2] at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakh SSR,[3] after top-secret research and development as part of the Soviet atomic bomb project.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Sublette, Carey (12 December 1997). "The Soviet Nuclear Weapons Program". nuclearweaponarchive.org. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  2. ^ Kjelstrup, Christian (11 August 2013). "Dette er stedet der Sovjet testet atombombene sine". Dagens Næringsliv (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 14 August 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  3. ^ Righter, Rosemary (31 July 2002). "The nuclear guinea pigs". www.kazakhembus.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2016.