Timeline of the Nuclear Age

Back To Nuclear Facts | Home | 1890 | 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000


1960

February 13 - First French nuclear test occurs at Reganne, Algeria, in the Sahara Desert. It had a yield of 60-70 kilotons.

November 15 - First Polaris missile launched from a submarine.

U.S. deploys the Atlas and Titan ICBMs.

1961

February 1 - U.S. launches the Minuteman I missile.

September 1 - U.S.S.R. resumes nuclear testing.

September 15 - U.S. resumes nuclear testing.

October 31 - U.S.S.R. explodes the world's largest nuclear bomb, with a yield of a 58 megatons.

1962

July 6 - Project Sedan, a Plowshare Program test, is conducted, formed a 1,280 foot diameter by 320 foot deep crater.

July 8 - Electromagnetic pulse from high-altitude nuclear test turns off street lights in Oahu, Hawaii.

October 16-28 - The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. The closest the world has ever come to nuclear war.

1963

June 20 - The U.S. and U.S.S.R. sign the ‘hot line' agreement.

August 5 - Limited Test Ban Treaty signed by the U.S., U.S.S.R. and the U.K., prohibiting tests of nuclear devices in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater.

1964

October 16 - China explodes its first atomic bomb at the Lop Nor test site. It was an uranium 235 implosion fission device named "596" and had a yield of 22 kilotons.

1966

January 17 - U.S. B-52 bomber crashes near Palomares, Spain with 4 unarmed hydrogen bombs. All four bombs are recovered.

September 24 - First French atomic bomb tested at Muruoa Atoll.

U.S. Minuteman ICBM enters service.

1967

January 27 - Outer Space Treaty bans nuclear weapons being placed on any celestial body, or in orbit around the Earth.

February 14 - Treaty of Tlatelolco signed and creates a Latin America nuclear-weapons-free zone.

June 17 - First hydrogen bomb test by the Chinese, with a yield of 3.3 megatons.

1968

July 1 - Non-Proliferation Treaty opened for additional signatures.

August 24 - France tests its first hydrogen bomb at Fangataufa Atoll in the South Pacific. It has a yield of 2.6 megatons.

1969

November to December - Preliminary Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) talks take place in Helsinki, Finland.

Back To Nuclear Facts | Home | 1890 | 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000
1
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws