Burning the Sky
Operation Argus and the Untold Story of the Cold War Nuclear Tests in Outer Space
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Burning the Sky
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Narrated by:
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John Lescault
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By:
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Mark Wolverton
About this listen
After the Soviet Union proved to the United States that it possessed an operational intercontinental ballistic missile with the launch of Sputnik in October 1957, the world watched anxiously as the two superpowers engaged in a game of nuclear one-upmanship. Amid this rising tension, eccentric physicist Nicholas Christofilos brought forth an outlandish, albeit ingenious, idea to defend the US from a Soviet attack: detonating nuclear warheads in space to create an artificial radiation belt that would fry incoming ICBMs. Known as Operation Argus, this plan is the most secret and riskiest experiment in history, and classified details of these nuclear tests have been long obscured.
Combining his investigation of recently declassified documents with more than a decade of experience in researching and writing about the science of the Cold War, Mark Wolverton tells the unknown and controversial story of this scheme, chronicling Christofilos' unconventional idea from inception to execution, and examines the scientific, political, and environmental implications of Argus, as well as that of the atmospheric tests that followed.
Burning the Sky is an engrossing audiobook that will intrigue any lover of scientific or military history and will remind listeners why Project Argus remains frighteningly relevant nearly 60 years later.
©2018 Mark Wolverton (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Burning the Sky
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Goronwy-Wyn
- 22-11-21
The collective stupidity of the governing masses.
Oh look we have discovered a new phenomenon.
Let’s throw nuclear weapons at it to see what will happen... that’s odd some people went blind. Ho hum never mind!
You have to pinch yourself to realize that this is real not a Hollywood B movie.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mrs. G. Moynihan
- 21-08-21
Enlightening
A well drafted and equally well narrated story. It covers a period of history that seemed to pass many by, staggering given the magnitude of what was being undertaken. Was it negligent wanton and futile meddling with the planet Earth’s delicate magnetic fields? Or was it justifiable scientific experimentation and exploration the like of which man has always been driven to pursue? I think the former.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Craig
- 23-06-19
Fascinating.
For those that love Cold War History,this is a really good book. It also puts into context just how close we came to destroying the human race not only by the development of nightmare weapons...but also thought just testing them.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Paul D Watson
- 04-03-22
Oh dear
A dull, ponderous and, in places, highly inaccurate and biased book. Read in an appropriately dull and ponderous manner. One of the very few books I have chosen not to finish...
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