Five men volunteer to stand under an exploding nuclear bomb

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

Five Men Agree To Stand Directly Under An Exploding Nuclear Bomb

On July 19, 1957, five Air Force officers and one photographer stood together on a patch of ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. They'd marked the spot "Ground Zero. Population 5" on a hand-lettered sign hammered into the soft ground right next to them.

As we watch, directly overhead, two F-89 jets roar into view, and one of them shoots off a nuclear missile carrying an atomic warhead.

They wait. There is a countdown; 18,500 feet above them, the missile is detonated and blows up. Which means, these men intentionally stood directly underneath an exploding 2-kiloton nuclear bomb. One of them, at the key moment (he's wearing sunglasses), looks up. You have to see this to believe it.

Who are these guys? And why is the narrator joyously shouting, "It happened! The mounds are vibrating. It is tremendous! Directly above our heads! Aaah!"

This footage comes from our government's archives. It was shot by the U.S. Air Force (at the behest of Col. Arthur B. "Barney" Oldfield, public information officer for the Continental Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs) to demonstrate the relative safety of a low-grade nuclear exchange in the atmosphere. Two colonels, two majors and a fifth officer agreed to stand right below the blast. Only the cameraman, George Yoshitake, didn't volunteer.

The country was just beginning to worry about nuclear fallout, and the Air Force wanted to reassure people that it was OK to use atomic weapons to counter similar weapons being developed in Russia.

Read the rest here: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/07/16/atomic_test_wide-07e7e66830aed641fd2415b0830685acd012a04f-s4-c85.jpg

Edited August 29, 2014 by OnMyWayID

[GandD 5,966]

What the hell is wrong with us humans?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

What's going on with these guys today?

What the hell is wrong with us humans?

Penises, basically.

[GandD 5,966]

What's going on with these guys today?

Penises, basically.

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

What's going on with these guys today?

The Cameraman is still alive (at least when last tracked) and is in his mid-late 80's

The others lived to 71, 83, 86, and two are unkown.. One of those two may have died at 63.. None of them from cancer.. The article goes into some the reasoning why.

I just realized I did not post the correct link to the story.. It is here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/07/16/156851175/five-men-agree-to-stand-directly-under-an-exploding-nuclear-bomb

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

An amazing video as a timeline showing all nuclear explosions that have ever happened on Earth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W_lLhBt8Vg

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

That was interesting, thanks. I had no idea. France is into it, #3 in tests, never would have thought.