Burning the sky: Operation Argus and the untold story of the Cold War nuclear tests in outer space
(Book)
Description
"After the Soviet Union proved to the US that it possessed an operational intercontinental ballistic missile with the launch of Sputnik in the October 1957, the world watched anxiously as the two superpowers engaged in a game of nuclear one-upmanship. In the midst of this rising tension, Nicholas Christofilos, an eccentric Greek-American physicist, brought forth an outlandish, albeit ingenious, idea to defend the US from a Soviet attack: launching nuclear warheads to detonate in outer space, creating an artificial radiation belt that would fry incoming Soviet ICBMs. Known as Operation Argus, this plan is the most secret and riskiest scientific experiment in history, and classified details of these nuclear tests have been long obscured. In Burning the Sky, Mark Wolverton tells the unknown and controversial story of this scheme to reveal a fascinating narrative that still has powerful resonances today." --
Copies
More Details
Notes
Reviews from GoodReads
Citations
Wolverton, M. (2018). Burning the sky: Operation Argus and the untold story of the Cold War nuclear tests in outer space. First edition. The Overlook Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Wolverton, Mark. 2018. Burning the Sky: Operation Argus and the Untold Story of the Cold War Nuclear Tests in Outer Space. The Overlook Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Wolverton, Mark, Burning the Sky: Operation Argus and the Untold Story of the Cold War Nuclear Tests in Outer Space. The Overlook Press, 2018.
MLA Citation (style guide)Wolverton, Mark. Burning the Sky: Operation Argus and the Untold Story of the Cold War Nuclear Tests in Outer Space. First edition. The Overlook Press, 2018.
Staff View
Record Information
Last Sierra Extract Time | Jun 23, 2025 07:58:54 PM |
---|---|
Last File Modification Time | Jun 23, 2025 07:59:05 PM |
Last Grouped Work Modification Time | Jun 23, 2025 07:58:58 PM |
MARC Record
LEADER | 02592nam a2200373 i 4500 | ||
---|---|---|---|
005 | 20250210224927.0 | ||
008 | 181008s2018 nyu 000 0deng d | ||
010 | |a bl2018188616 | ||
020 | |a 9781468314175 | ||
020 | |a 1468314173 | ||
037 | |b Overlook Pr, C/O W W Norton & Co Inc 800 Keystone Industrial Park, Scranton, PA, USA, 18512, USA |n SAN 202-5795 | ||
040 | |a NjBwBT |b eng |e rda |c NjBwBT |d HMM | ||
043 | |a ls----- | ||
050 | 1 | 4 | |a U264 |b .W65 2018 |
082 | 0 | 4 | |a 623.4/5119 |2 23 |
100 | 1 | |a Wolverton, Mark, |e author. |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n2004005482 | |
245 | 1 | 0 | |a Burning the sky : |b Operation Argus and the untold story of the Cold War nuclear tests in outer space / |c Mark Wolverton. |
250 | |a First edition. | ||
264 | 1 | |a New York : |b The Overlook Press, |c 2018. | |
300 | |a 272 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : |b illustrations, some color ; |c 24 cm | ||
336 | |a text |b txt |2 rdacontent | ||
337 | |a unmediated |b n |2 rdamedia | ||
338 | |a volume |b nc |2 rdacarrier | ||
500 | |a Includes bibliographical references and index. | ||
520 | |a "After the Soviet Union proved to the US that it possessed an operational intercontinental ballistic missile with the launch of Sputnik in the October 1957, the world watched anxiously as the two superpowers engaged in a game of nuclear one-upmanship. In the midst of this rising tension, Nicholas Christofilos, an eccentric Greek-American physicist, brought forth an outlandish, albeit ingenious, idea to defend the US from a Soviet attack: launching nuclear warheads to detonate in outer space, creating an artificial radiation belt that would fry incoming Soviet ICBMs. Known as Operation Argus, this plan is the most secret and riskiest scientific experiment in history, and classified details of these nuclear tests have been long obscured. In Burning the Sky, Mark Wolverton tells the unknown and controversial story of this scheme to reveal a fascinating narrative that still has powerful resonances today." -- |c from publisher's description. | ||
600 | 1 | 0 | |a Christofilos, Nicholas. |
650 | 0 | |a Nuclear weapons |x Testing. |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85093130 | |
650 | 0 | |a Atomic bomb |z South Atlantic Ocean |x Testing. | |
650 | 0 | |a Operation Argus, 1958. |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85107341 | |
650 | 0 | |a Upper atmosphere |x Research. | |
650 | 0 | |a Artificial radiation belts. |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2005004315 | |
907 | |a .b25987434 | ||
945 | |y .i62146518 |i 31200500231708 |l hmanb |s - |h |u 4 |x 1 |w 0 |v 0 |t 2 |z 12-10-18 |r - |o - |a 623.451/WOL | ||
998 | |e - |d a |f eng |a hm |