Cold War

News

The US Almost Fired Missiles At Australia – With Our PM’s Approval

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9:00AM January 5, 2012 | Nick Broughall

The 1980s weren’t just about Walkmans and Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet album – the early 80s was also the climax of the Cold War between Russia and the USA. And now, 30 years later, the national archives has released classified documents that shows then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser signed off on a proposal to let the US fire MX missiles from California into the Tasman Sea. More »

Geek Out

Last Nuclear ‘Monster Weapon’ Gets Dismantled

3:30AM October 25, 2011 | Spencer Ackerman - Danger Room

In the 1960s, the skies above the United States were patrolled by agents of the apocalypse. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses circled the North American continent, 24 hours a day, cradling two megabombs in their bellies. More »

Science

Massive Cold War Spy Satellite Hidden From World Until Now

11:45PM September 19, 2011 | Sam Biddle

The Hexagon satellite spied on America’s Cold War foes for over a decade, taking extremely detailed (film!) photographs from space. It was 60 feet long — bigger than a bus. And the public never, ever saw it. We did. More »

Science

Was The Space Shuttle Just A Science-less Cold War Weapon?

5:20AM July 9, 2011 | Sam Biddle

Deploying and maintaining the Hubble has been one of the biggest boons to man’s understanding of the remote cosmos. But vivid examples like that aside, how much did the shuttle help science? Not at all, says one renowned astrophysicist. More »

Science

Russian Cosmonaut: Our Shuttle Was Safer, Could Drop Nukes From Orbit

11:20AM July 8, 2011 | Sam Biddle

Russia’s Buran program was very short lived. Like, only one flight short lived. But according to cosmonaut (and ISS alum) Oleg Kotov, the craft had some serious potential – outclassing its American rival at both saving lives and destroying them. More »

Geek Out

Where Did The Iconic Fallout Shelter Symbol Come From?

9:20AM June 23, 2011 | Kwame Opam

CONELRAD recently posted a great piece that explores the origin of the famous fallout shelter sign that appeared across the US at the height of the Cold War. Worn and rusted, you can still see some of them today as lasting symbols of the atomic age. More »

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Area 51 Secrets: The US Military Used Fake Cardboard Cutouts Of Planes To Fool The Russians

8:00AM May 23, 2011 | Casey Chan

A lot of Cold War-era Area 51 documents have been declassified and National Geographic has discovered a rather low-tech method the US Military used to fool the Russians. It involved cardboard, the occasional heater and infrared satellites. More »

Science

R.I.P. Hervey Stockman, First Pilot To Fly A Spy Plane Over Soviet Territory

2:12PM February 24, 2011 | Adrian Covert

Hervey Stockman passed away today, leaving behind a legacy as the first man to pilot a dedicated spy plane in Soviet airspace. Taking the Lockheed U-2 into Communist territory in the middle of the Cold War, Stockman was able to collect data on the USSR while evading MiGs trying to intercept him. More »

Cold War Bunker On eBay Has Bids Reaching $US35,000

10:00PM March 2, 2010 | Kat Hannaford

You’ll have to travel to England’s Peak District to collect – and when I say collect, I mean “bunker down”, but the 15m x 15m bunker in a genuine souvenir from the Cold War, used by the Royal Observer Corps. More »

23 Cold War-Era Playground Rockets

7:00AM March 11, 2009 | Sean Fallon

During the height of the cold war in the early 80′s you could find me on the playground of my elementary school, climbing on a rocketship similar to the 23 captured by photographer Lauren Orchowski.

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