HIST 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Cuban Missile Crisis, Strategic Defense Initiative, Astronaut
Document Summary
Lecture notes 20- the cold war part one- nuclear warfare & the space race. Inter continent ballistic missiles (icbms) a guided ballistic missile with a minimum range of 5,500 kilometers primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Missile gap the perceived deficiency in american nuclear defense based on the idea that the ussr had more icbms. Hydrogen bomb weapon deriving a large portion of its energy from the nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes. In an atomic bomb, uranium or plutonium is split into lighter elements that together weigh less than the original atoms, the remainder of the mass appearing as energy. Strategic air command the air command in the usaf that was chiefly responsible for the deployment and maintenance of nuclear-armed bombers and missiles during the cold war. Nuclear football a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the.
