Failure To Launch artwork

Part 1: Cosmos 954 - Raining Radiation on Canada's Arctic

Failure To Launch

English - July 31, 2022 18:05 - 1 hour - 59.3 MB
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Previous Episode: Sputnik 2, Laika, and the Soviet Space Dog Program
Next Episode: Part 2: Cosmos 954 - Operation Morning Light (or How Not To Handle A Nuclear Disaster)

This series, we are doing a deep dive on Cosmos 954, the Soviet spy satellite carrying a nuclear reactor that deorbited and crashed into Canada's Northwest Territories. In Part 1, we focus on the satellite itself, how it failed, and how a little-known American government agency stepped up to tackle a nuclear disaster. Topics covered include:



- Why the Soviets loaded a spy satellite with weapons-grade uranium

- The horrible "failsafes" they designed into their satellites

- How a nuclear prank in Boston scared the US into taking accidents seriously

- How all of this is (tangentially) Korolev and Khrushchev's fault