In 1962, the United States detonated a 1.4 megaton hydrogen bomb 400 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.

This was part of a project called Operation Fishbowl. Not surprisingly, it created a huge explosion, which lit up the sky and disrupted

radio transmissions. It also knocked out streetlights in Hawaii, which may have worried partygoers

who, according to Smithsonian Magazine, were gathering on hotel rooftops for H-bomb explosion viewing

parties. It also messed up six different satellites.

Four belonged to Americans, one was Russian,

and it also messed up the very first British satellite.

The Soviet Union was conducting similar tests of nuclear weapons in space at the same time.

This didn't bode well for the future of satellites in space.

This amazing new technology of satellites held a lot of promise, but who would want to invest in it if the United States and the Soviet Union kept making satellites inoperable with nuclear

weapons tests in space?

Well, lucky for all of us, in 1963, both nations agreed to stop screwing up space for the rest of us

and signed the partial nuclear test ban treaty, which banned the test of nuclear weapons in some

places, including space.

In this year, you also get a UN resolution saying weapons of mass destruction can't be orbited

in space, and you get a United Nations Outer Space

Treaty, which comes into force in 1967, which reiterated all of these points for other nations

as well.

Ew!

Now satellites are safe.

Right?

Well, probably.

...