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List Price: $24.95 | | Label: Goldhil Home Media
Salesrank: 126625
Released: October 3, 2000 |
| Our Price: $4.87 |
| Used Price: $3.65 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Product Description Nukes in Space provides an exciting overview of the development of the military space program of missiles and space-based nuclear weapons testing with spectacular, never-before-seen images. Starting with the V-1 and V-2, this film takes you through missile development of ICBM's with nuclear warheads, the Cuban Missile Crisis through anti-ballistic missile systems and what implications the they hold for the future of our nation's security. During the heart of the Cold War, the United States and the former Soviet Union launched and detonated a combined total of over 20 thermo nuclear weapons in the upper atmosphere and near space region of earth in an effort to test the effects of launching an offense as well as countering an offense. Even during the Cuban Missile Crisis! Almost unknown to the public, much of the information on theses tests has been kept secret for over 35 years until recently, when newly declassified test footage and secret government documents obtained from both countries reveals everything from the ICBM to outer space testing to ABM.
Description of Nukes in Space - Rainbow Bombs:
Boasting material that was recently declassified, this documentary presents some startling material about how the United States detonated a number of atomic bombs in space during a top-secret cold war weapons program. The history of military rockets is detailed, beginning with the Nazi V2 rockets that attacked England late in World War II. The problems encountered in the America's cold war rocketry program is dramatically illustrated with a film montage of U.S. missiles spectacularly blowing up on their launch pads. After the Soviets launched Sputnik, America's resolve to be able to wage war in space stiffened, and test detonations of atomic weapons in space began. The effects of these little-known tests were bizarre and included electromagnetic disturbances that blew fuses in Hawaii while creating beautiful, if dangerous, artificial auroras that gave the tests the nickname of the "Rainbow Bombs." Of particular interest in this documentary are tapes of White House meetings at which President John F. Kennedy and his top science and military advisers discussed the atomic tests in space. The bomb detonations caused radiation problems in space, damaging fledgling communications satellites, and the government eventually called an end to the program. This is an entertaining and very informative look at a piece of cold war history that seems like vintage science fiction, yet it's all real. --Robert J. McNamara
Nukes in Space - Rainbow Bombs Reviews:
It's only so-so 
2008-12-05 - This video is not nearly as entertaining as "Trinity and Beyond". The so-called "rainbow bombs" do not figure prominently and when they are seen, they are less than spectacular. Most of this video seems to focus more on the world situation at the time these tests were being conducted than on the actual tests themselves. A great deal of the extras on the disc are about JFK and the cuban missile crisis. As one reviewer mentioned, there seem to be just as many rockets blowing on the launch pad as there are explosions in space.
Even tho I felt the title was a bit misleading, it is interesting.
High Altitude Explosions 
2007-12-23 - I didn't think this video was very interesting at all. It was slow moving and showed too many rockets blowing up on their launching pads. The footage of the high altitude explosions was not entertaining at all. A waste of time in my opinion. DO NOT BUY this DVD!
More about Space Race than Nukes 
2006-04-08 - This movie is more about the Space Race than nuclear testing. Of course, the Space Race was driven primarily by the threat of nuclear weapons. It's a very well done and enjoyable documentary of ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) development culminating in the high-altitude nuclear weapons affects tests of the Dominic/Fishbowl test series. There are not many thermonuclear explosions in this video--but there sure are a lot of rocket failure explosions. This movie also highlights the Cuban Missile Crisis as well as documenting the anti-ballistic missile tests. I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in the development of the Space Race or the Cold War. It's tastefully done and depicts the tension that was in the world's two superpowers
A History of Missile/Anti-missile Systems
2002-04-20 - As expected, this flim does cover the high-altitude explosions like Argus and Starfish. I thought the picture works well on a TV screen, and the footage is suitably presented. It puts the tests in their proper context, and gives credit to the people who did it. However, the movie was more of a history of ICBMs and (towards the end) ABM systems than a focus on high-altitude nuclear bursts. That is the right context to put the programs into, but I was surprised at what a nice documentary it is of the Missile races of the 1950s/60s. That story has not been very well told, and is one of the great technical achievedments of history. Even if it now seems a little mad, it's impressive what people did in such a short time. I would recommend this for anyone interested in the history of the time, or in the development of ballistic missiles. I wish it could be required watching for new teams working on BMD.
Some reasons why 
2001-06-11 - Nukes in Space is a serious documentary as well as eye candy. For those reading the history of the era, it provides the larger media-culture background to the Cuban Missile crisis. It goes far to explain why Kennedy and MacNamara went for the various arms control negotiations that lead to banning open air nuclear testing and eventually the ABM Treaty.
