Starfish Prime: A Nuclear Test in Space
Nuclear testing in space. Sounds like a bad idea, right?
That didn’t stop the U.S.A and the Soviet Union in the 1960s.
The most famous of these tests was Starfish Prime.
Though intended to be a secret operation, the cat was soon out of the bag. It’s difficult to hide a space explosion, after all – especially when it creates a blood red Aurora Borealis display. The radioactive blast was so great that it destroyed a third of earth’s low orbit satellites. Amongst these was Telstar 1, the first TV satellite. On a nearby island, over three hundred streetlights were extinguished.
In 1967, world superpowers signed the Outer Space Treaty, putting an end to the madness. Sadly, nuclear testing continued until the 1990s, to the terrible harm of indigenous peoples.
Lately however, the U.S.A are claiming that Russia may be considering putting a nuclear weapon in space. And in Scotland, spaceports are on the rise, with five licenced to go ahead in the near future. While these are primarily for commercial purposes, there is evidence of military and nuclear connections.
We need to keep space for peace.
Keep Space for Peace Demonstrations
To raise the profile of this little-known issue, we staged two mini-demonstrations. The first was across iconic Glasgow locations, such as the Squiggly Bridge and the Duke of Wellington statue.
In Edinburgh, we headed for Holyrood, where we took photos outside the Scottish Parliament, against the backdrop of Arthur’s Seat. The dreich afternoon was brightened by friendly tourists waving and taking photos of our banner. We were also pleased to meet Richard Leonard (Scottish Labour) and Bill Kidd (SNP), who came out to speak with us.
To find out more about British nuclear testing from 1952-1991, sign up to our webinar “The Nuclear Cover-up”. Scottish CND chair Professor Lynn Jamieson will discuss the ongoing harms of nuclear testing to indigenous peoples, veterans, and the wider environment.
Online
24th October at 7pm
