# Nixon's nuke in space? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-nuke-in-space/179655 "2003-06-04T18:00:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-nuke-in-space/179655/1 "2003-06-04T18:00:32Z")
I’m not sure if this is just a legand of sorts, but I’ve heard several people mention nuclear weapons detonated in space at the time of the Nixon administration. I can’t find very much with a google search, anyone else know anything about it? Thanks, C\_e ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-nuke-in-space/179655/2 "2003-06-04T18:09:32Z")
I don’t think so. That would be impossible to hide. IIRC Edward Teller or one of the other bomb scientists suggested the possibility of setting off a nuke on the moon but that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-nuke-in-space/179655/3 "2003-06-04T18:23:22Z")
Not during the Nixon administration, but during the Eisenhower administation (when Nixon was V.P.), there were three tests in the South Pacific (Operation Argus). The highest was 466 miles up. [http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/Usa/Tests/Argus.html](http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/Usa/Tests/Argus.html) ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-nuke-in-space/179655/4 "2003-06-04T18:39:23Z")
I watched “Trinity and Beyond” a while back and there were some nukes exploded in space, but I’m thinking it was more in the early '60s time frame… the following would suggest the space tests ended in 1963. From[This Site](http://www.nuclearfiles.org/kinuclearweapons/testing.htm) > [@](#): > > Partial Test Ban Treaty > In response to growing international awareness of the risks of radiation from nuclear tests, the Soviet Union, US and UK in 1963 negotiated an agreement to prohibit nuclear testing in the atmosphere, outer space and underwater. France and China did not join the treaty and continued atmospheric testing. France stopped atmospheric testing in 1975 following a case in the International Court of Justice and China stopped in 1980. As for further clandestine space tests, This [Site](http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970107a1.html) tells of the gamma ray detection satellites placed in orbit to detect space-based nuclear explosions…says none were ever detected. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-nuke-in-space/179655/5 "2003-06-04T18:48:57Z")
Thanks **bibliophage** …that’s more like the site I was trying to find… The Hardtack series were the tests shown on “Trinity and Beyond” IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-nuke-in-space/179655/6 "2003-06-04T18:51:19Z")
This [Department od Energy website](http://www.nv.doe.gov/news%26pubs/photos%26films/0800027/Default.htm) has information and video clips of Operation Argus. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-nuke-in-space/179655/7 "2003-06-04T22:26:49Z")
Oh, the satellites detected nuclear explosions in space, all right… The explosions were just a mite bit more energetic than we expected, though ;). And what are we using as our standard of “in space”, here? ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-nuke-in-space/179655/8 "2003-06-05T03:47:14Z")
Well, yeah, Gamma Ray Burst(er)s. But they ain’t made by us or the Ruskies. That was a great side benefit from a paranoid system of detection.