The Cassidy Project

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It was 9 seconds past 9 a.m. precisely — Greenwich Mean Time — when the Thor Rocket, carrying a W49 Nuclear Warhead exploded at an altitude of 250 miles. Robert Cassidy clicked the stop button on his pocket watch to record the time. In the sky above, an explosion which would later be recorded as reaching 1.44 megatons, erupted — sending an artificial aurora borealis of splendid colors across the North Pacific Ocean.

Approximately 900 miles from the detonation point the city of Honolulu in Hawaii experienced the effects of the subsequent and powerful electromagnetic pulse. Approximately 300 streetlights went out in an instant and the island’s only microwave tower was destroyed. The strange events were followed by the eerie sound of the air raid siren, sending terror into the hearts of those who had survived the attack on Pearl Harbor over two decades earlier.

On Johnston Atoll, Robert noticed beads of sweat form inside his protective goggles, which had allowed him to stare at the blast without incinerating his retina. He removed the eyepieces and let them hang below his neck. A few moments later his eyes adjusted to the new and magnificent horizon. Filled with a myriad of reds, ochre, and yellow lines, the artificial aurora borealis dazzled onlookers from Hawaii through to New Zealand for the next three days.

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