THE TSAR BOMBA — THE MOST POWERFUL EXPLOSION IN HUMAN HISTORY Often misreported, the Tsar Bomba was NOT tested in 1981. It was detonated by the Soviet Union on 30 October 1961 during the Cold War. The Tsar Bomba, officially known as AN602, was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever exploded, with a yield of around 50 megatons of TNT — more than 3,000 times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb. 📍 Test Location: Novaya Zemlya, Arctic Circle ✈️ Delivery: Dropped from a modified Tu-95 bomber ☢️ Explosion Height: ~4 km above ground The blast was so intense that: The fireball was nearly 8 km wide The mushroom cloud rose over 60 km into the atmosphere Shockwaves circled the Earth three times Windows shattered up to 900 km away The pilot barely survived, despite a massive parachute slowing the bomb’s fall Originally designed for 100 megatons, Soviet scientists deliberately reduced its power to limit radioactive fallout — a chilling reminder that even half power was enough to dwarf any weapon ever ...