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Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States on July 9, 1962, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Defense Atomic Support Agency (which became the Defense Nuclear Agency in 1971). A Thor rocket carrying a W49 thermonuclear warhead (manufactured by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory) and a Mk. 2 reentry vehicle was launched from Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean. The explosion took place above a point southwest of Johnston Island. It was one of five tests conducted by the USA in outer space as defined by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). It produced a yield equivalent to 1.4 megatonnes of TNT. It was the largest man-made nuclear explosion in outer space. ==Operation Fishbowl== (詳細はOperation Fishbowl within the larger Operation Dominic, a series of tests in 1962 begun in response to the Soviet announcement on August 30, 1961 that they would end a three-year moratorium on testing.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Dominic.html )〕 In 1958 the United States had completed six high-altitude nuclear tests, but the high-altitude tests of that year produced many unexpected results and raised many new questions. According to the U.S. Government Project Officer's Interim Report on the Starfish Prime project:
The Starfish test was originally planned as the second in the Fishbowl series, but the first launch (Bluegill) was lost by the radar tracking equipment and had to be destroyed in flight. The initial Starfish launch attempt on June 20 was aborted in flight due to failure of the Thor launch vehicle. The Thor missile flew a normal trajectory for 59 seconds; then the rocket engine stopped, and the missile began to break apart. The range safety officer ordered the destruction of the missile and of the warhead. The missile was between 30,000 and 35,000 feet (9.1 and 10.7 km) in altitude when it was destroyed. Parts of the missile and some radioactive contamination fell upon Johnston Island and nearby Sand Island and the surrounding ocean.〔 Defense Nuclear Agency. (Operation Dominic I. 1962. Report DNA 6040F ). (First published as an unclassified document on February 1, 1983.) Page 228–229〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Starfish Prime」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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