Hardtack Teak

Hardtack Teak
Hardtack-Teak, 3.88 megatons of TNT (16.2 PJ). Deployment via PGM-11 Redstone.
Information
CountryUnited States
Test seriesOperation Newsreel during Operation Hardtack I[1]
Test siteJohnston Atoll
Date1 August 1958;
66 years ago (1958-08-01)
Test typeExoatmospheric
Yield3.88 megatons of TNT (16.2 PJ)

HARDTACK-Teak was an exoatmospheric high altitude nuclear weapon test performed during Operation Newsreel.[2] It was launched from Johnston Atoll on a Redstone missile.[3] On 1 August 1958, the 3.88 Mt (16.2 PJ) shot detonated at an altitude of 76.8 km (252,000 ft; 47.7 mi).

Along with HARDTACK-Orange it was one of the two largest high-altitude nuclear explosions.

  1. ^ https://www.nnss.gov/docs/docs_LibraryPublications/DOE_NV-209_Rev16.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  2. ^ https://www.nnss.gov/docs/docs_LibraryPublications/DOE_NV-209_Rev16.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  3. ^ Operation HARDTACK Military Effects Studies Part III: High Altitude Tests (1958), Department of Defense documentary film, Lookout Mountain Laboratory USAF.