title: Harpoon (missile)

text: The Republic of Singapore Air Force also operates five modified Fokker 50 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) which are fitted with the sensors needed to fire the Harpoon missile. The Pakistani Navy carries the Harpoon missile on its frigates and P-3C Orions. The Turkish Navy carries Harpoons on surface warships and Type 209 submarines. The Turkish Air Force will be armed with the SLAM-ER. Turkey is planning to replace the Harpoons with Turkish made Atmaca missiles.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: At least 339 Harpoon missiles were sold to the Republic of China Air Force (Taiwan) for its F-16 A/B Block 20 fleet and the Republic of China Navy, which operates four guided-missile destroyers and eight guided-missile frigates with the capability of carrying the Harpoon, including the eight former U.S. Navy s and the four former USN s which have been sold to Taiwan. The two /"Hai Lung" submarines and 12 P-3C Orion aircraft can also use the missile. The eight s, despite being based on the US , have Harpoon capabilities deleted from their combat systems, and funding to restore it has so far been denied, the Republic of China Navy (Taiwan) decided to switch to the Hsiung Feng II and Hsiung Feng III.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: The Block 1 missiles were designated AGM/RGM/UGM-84A in US service and UGM-84B in the UK. Block 1B standard missiles were designated AGM/RGM/UGM-84C, Block 1C missiles were designated AGM/RGM/UGM-84D. Block 1C used a terminal attack mode that included a pop-up to approximately before diving on the target; Block 1B omitted the terminal pop-up; and Block 1C provided a selectable terminal attack mode.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: This version featured a larger fuel tank and re-attack capability, but was not produced in large numbers because its intended mission (warfare with the Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe) was considered to be unlikely following the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. Range is . Block 1D missiles were designated RGM/AGM-84F.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: This version, under development, gives the SLAM a re-attack capability, as well as an image comparison capability similar to the Tomahawk cruise missile; that is, the weapon can compare the target scene in front of it with an image stored in its onboard computer during terminal phase target acquisition and lock on (this is known as DSMAC). Block 1G missiles AGM/RGM/UGM-84G; the original SLAM-ER missiles were designated AGM-84H (2000-2002) and later ones the AGM-84K (2002 onwards).


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: Block 1J was a proposal for a further upgrade, AGM/RGM/UGM-84J Harpoon (or Harpoon 2000), for use against both ship and land targets.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: In production at Boeing facilities in Saint Charles, Missouri, is the Harpoon Block II, intended to offer an expanded engagement envelope, enhanced resistance to electronic countermeasures and improved targeting. Specifically, the Harpoon was initially designed as an open-ocean weapon. The Block II missiles continue progress begun with Block IE, and the Block II missile provides the Harpoon with a littoral-water anti-ship capability.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: The key improvements of the Harpoon Block II are obtained by incorporating the inertial measurement unit from the Joint Direct Attack Munition program, and the software, computer, Global Positioning System (GPS)/inertial navigation system and GPS antenna/receiver from the SLAM Expanded Response (SLAM-ER), an upgrade to the SLAM.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: The US Navy awarded a $120 million contract to Boeing in July 2011 for the production of about 60 Block II Harpoon missiles, including missiles for 6 foreign militaries.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: India acquired 24 Harpoon Block II missiles to arm its maritime strike Jaguar fighters in a deal worth $170 million through the Foreign Military Sales system. In December 2010, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified U.S. Congress of a possible sale of 21 additional AGM-84L Harpoon Block II Missiles and associated equipment, parts and logistical support for a complete package worth approximately $200 million; the Indian government intends to use these missiles on its Indian Navy P-8I Neptune maritime patrol aircraft. The Indian Navy is also planning to upgrade the fleet of four submarines – – with tube-launched Harpoon missiles.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: In early 2018, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of Harpoon Block II to the Mexican Navy for use on their future Sigma-class design frigates, the first of which is being built by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: On 18 November 2015, the U.S. Navy tested the AGM-84N Harpoon Block II+ missile against a moving ship target. The Block II+ incorporates an improved GPS guidance kit and a net-enabled data-link that allows the missile to receive in-flight targeting updates. The Block II+ is planned to enter service in 2017.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: The USN intends to deploy the Harpoon Block II+ in late FY2018 by upgrading its existing inventory of Harpoon IC missiles.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: Harpoon Block III was intended to be an upgrade package to the existing USN Block 1C missiles and Command Launch Systems (CLS) for guided missile cruisers, guided missile destroyers, and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft. After experiencing an increase in the scope of required government ship integration, test and evaluation, and a delay in development of a data-link, the Harpoon Block III program was canceled by the U.S. Navy in April 2009.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: In April 2015, Boeing unveiled a modified version of the RGM-84 it called the Harpoon Next Generation. It increases the ship-launched Harpoon missile's range from the Block II's to , along with a new lighter warhead and a more fuel-efficient engine with electronic fuel controls. Boeing offered the missile as the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship frigate upgrade over-the-horizon anti-ship missile as a cost-effective missile upgrade option; complete Next Gen Harpoons would cost approximately as much as a Block II at $1.2 million each, with upgrades for an existing missile costing half that. The version is also called the Harpoon Block II+ ER. Boeing claims the Block II+ ER is superior to the Naval Strike Missile through its improved turbojet giving it greater range and active radar-homing seeker for all-weather operation, as well as a lighter but "more lethal" warhead. Test shots in 2017 had been confirmed. In May 2017, Boeing revealed it was no longer offering the upgraded Harpoon for the frigate OTH missile requirement, but would continue development of it.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: In 1981 and 1982, there were two accidental launches of Harpoon missiles: one by the United States Navy which caused no damage and the other by the Danish Navy, which destroyed and damaged buildings in the recreational housing area Lumsås. The Danish missile was later known as the "hovsa-missile" ("hovsa" being the Danish term for "oops").


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: In November 1980, during Operation Morvarid, Iranian missile boats attacked and sank two Iraqi s; one of the weapons used was the Harpoon missile.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: In 1986, the United States Navy sank at least two Libyan patrol boats in the Gulf of Sidra. Two Harpoon missiles were launched from the cruiser with no confirmed results and several others from A-6 Intruder aircraft that were said to have hit their targets. Initial reports claimed that USS "Yorktown" scored hits on a patrol boat, but action reports indicated that the target may have been a false one and that no ships were hit by those missiles.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: In 1988, Harpoon missiles were used by the U.S. to sink the Iranian frigate "Sahand" during Operation Praying Mantis. Another was fired at the Iranian "Kaman"-class missile boat "Joshan", but failed to strike because the fast attack craft had already been mostly sunk by RIM-66 Standard missiles. An Iranian-owned Harpoon missile was also fired at the guided missile cruiser . The missile was successfully lured away by chaff.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: In December 1988, a Harpoon launched by an F/A-18 Hornet fighter from the aircraft carrier killed one sailor when it struck the merchant ship "Jagvivek", a long Indian-owned ship, during an exercise at the Pacific Missile Range near Kauai, Hawaii. A Notice to Mariners had been issued warning of the danger, but "Jagvivek" left port before receiving the communication and subsequently strayed into the test range area, and the Harpoon missile, loaded just with an inert dummy warhead, locked onto it instead of its intended target.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: The UGM-84A undersea-launched Harpoon version was retired from U.S. Navy service in 1997, leaving the U.S. submarine force without an anti-ship missile, a capability that is not planned to be reintroduced until the Block IV Tomahawk is modified with a moving target maritime attack feature in 2021. During RIMPAC 2018 a UGM-84 Harpoon was fired by USS "Olympia" at the ex-USS "Racine". The U.S. Navy plans to refurbish and recertify UGM-84 Harpoon missiles to reintroduce the capability to s. A $10 million contract was awarded to Boeing in January 2021 to deliver the missiles by the end of the year.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: In June 2009, it was reported by an American newspaper, citing unnamed officials from the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress, that the American government had accused Pakistan of illegally modifying some older Harpoon missiles to strike land targets. Pakistani officials denied this and they claimed that the US was referring to a new Pakistani-designed missile. Some international experts were also reported to be skeptical of the accusations. Robert Hewson, editor of Jane's Air Launched Weapons, pointed out that the Harpoon is not suitable for the land-attack role due to deficiency in range. He also stated that Pakistan was already armed with more sophisticated missiles of Pakistani or Chinese design and, therefore, "beyond the need to reverse-engineer old US kit." Hewson offered that the missile tested by Pakistan was part of an undertaking to develop conventionally armed missiles, capable of being air- or surface-launched, to counter its rival India's missile arsenal. It was later stated that Pakistan and the US administration had reached some sort of agreement allowing US officials to inspect Pakistan's inventory of Harpoon missiles, and the issue had been resolved.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: The Harpoon missile has also emerged as a preferred choice for several foreign countries under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route. In 2020 its manufacturer Boeing won two major contracts for supplying Harpoon missiles to Saudi Arabia and six other partner nations under a $3.1 billion deal.


title: Harpoon (missile)

text: In late May 2022, Denmark sent Harpoon launchers and missiles to Ukraine to help their war effort, and shortly after, the Netherlands sent additional missiles. In mid-June 2022, the US announced that they would supply Ukraine with Harpoon launchers and missiles, and the UK Defence Secretary said that they also were looking into supplying Ukraine with the missiles. On 17 June, Ukraine claimed to have sunk the tugboat with two Harpoon missiles. In a tweet they said "Spasatel Vasily Bekh, a tug of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, successfully demilitarized by the @UA_NAVY. The ship was transporting personnel, weapons and ammunition to the occupied Snake Island." Ukraine's Naval Command said the Russian tugboat had a Tor missile system on board.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Friday is a 1995 American buddy stoner comedy film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Ice Cube and DJ Pooh. The first installment in the "Friday" franchise, the film stars Ice Cube, Chris Tucker, Nia Long, Bernie Mac, Tiny "Zeus" Lister Jr., John Witherspoon, Regina King, and Anna Maria Horsford. Set in South Central Los Angeles, it follows unemployed friends Craig Jones and Smokey, who face troubles after becoming indebted to a local drug dealer.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: While developing the film, Ice Cube and DJ Pooh expressed discontent regarding the portrayal of the hood in film, which they came to see as violent and menacing. As a result, they wished to counteract this, drawing on personal experiences when crafting the characters and plot points. Preparations for the film began after the pair were able to secure funding from New Line Cinema, who granted finance in exchange for a seasoned comedian in one of the lead roles; Ice Cube and DJ Pooh quickly settled on Tucker during casting. The film was Gray's film directorial debut, who was previously known as a music video director.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: "Friday" was theatrically released in the United States on April 26, 1995. It received positive reviews from critics, many of whom praised the comedic sequences, writing, and acting performances. The film was also a commercial success, grossing $27 million worldwide. It then obtained a large cult following, inspiring internet memes and pop-culture references. It launched a media franchise with the sequels "Next Friday" (2000) and "Friday After Next" (2002), which have also gained a cult following despite their negative reviews.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Craig Jones, a recently fired and unemployed slacker, living in South Central Los Angeles, spends Friday with his best friend Smokey, a small-time drug peddler. The pair smoke a brokered consignment of marijuana, which Smokey was tasked to sell for Smokey's drug supplier Big Worm.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Big Worm attempts to collect his money from Smokey, who accidentally involves Craig, subjecting both to Big Worm's ultimatum: if they don't repay him $200 by 10:00 PM that evening, Craig and Smokey will be killed.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Craig attempts to borrow money from a number of people, including his mother Betty, his sister Dana, and abusive girlfriend Joi, whom the latter refuses under the assumption that Craig is being unfaithful with local drug addict and beggar Felisha. Craig retrieves a gun to walk Smokey home, but his father Willie tells him that he needs to use his fists instead of weapons to help himself.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Smokey sells some drugs to Hector, a former smoking buddy, while Deebo, the neighborhood bully, forces Smokey to break into their neighbor Stanley's house to burglarize in which they manage to steal $200, that Deebo decides to keep for himself.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Smokey attempts to retrieve the money from Deebo, who is asleep with Felisha at her house, but fails due to interference from the petty thief Ezal. Seeing Deebo awake, Craig and Smokey notice a car driving slowly and, suspecting a drive-by shooting, they hide in Craig's room for the evening. After failing to contact Big Worm, and with 10:00 PM approaching, they return outside, but are forced to evade Big Worm's men as they're sitting in a black van with its headlights off, starting a shootout.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: After the shootout, the neighbors come out of their houses upon hearing the gunshots. Debbie confronts Deebo for beating Felisha, assuming Felisha was behind Smokey's attempted theft. As Craig and Smokey arrive, Deebo angrily punches Debbie, knocking her to the ground, leading to a physical altercation between him and Craig, with Craig being victorious. Smokey steals the $200 from the incapacitated Deebo.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Other locals, such as Red and Ezal, retrieve their stolen items. Debbie tends to Craig's wounds, leading him to break up with Joi on the phone, while his father informs him his former supervisor called wanting to see him tomorrow.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Smokey settles his debt with Big Worm, telling him he will no longer sell drugs and is set to enter rehabilitation. Smokey then smokes a joint and ends the movie by looking at the camera and saying "I was just bullshittin'! And you know this, man!"


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: LaWanda Page cameos as a Jehovah's Witness that Craig shuts the door on. Michael Clarke Duncan appears in an uncredited role as a craps player; his film debut. Rap musician WC appears as a drive by shooter.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Before "Friday"s release, movies such as "Boyz n the Hood" (also starring Ice Cube) and "Colors" portrayed life in the hood as violent and menacing. Ice Cube and DJ Pooh felt that these films did not portray the full picture of living in the hood, missing a more lighthearted element, with Ice Cube later saying, "we had fun in the hood. We used to trip off the neighborhood." Therefore, Cube and DJ Pooh decided to create a film that would portray that environment.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: The script was only the third Ice Cube had ever written; the previous two were undeveloped. With the film, Ice Cube intended to make a "hood classic", one that could be "[watched] over and over and over again". According to Ice Cube, a majority of the film is autobiographical, with much of it being based on events that occurred in his neighborhood growing up. Smokey was based on DJ Pooh's stint as a drug dealer, while Craig being fired on his day off was based on Ice Cube's cousin, who was working as a delivery driver for United Parcel Service (UPS) at the time.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Prior to writing, the duo realized their inexperience as filmmakers was unlikely to attract major film studios, and floated the idea of self-financing the film. For a time, the idea of making the film in black and white to save money was considered, before the pair decided on approaching New Line Cinema about producing the film, who had achieved success with the "House Party" series; a film-type the duo aimed to replicate.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: New Line Cinema agreed to finance the production, but requested that the role of Smokey, initially to be played by DJ Pooh, be played by someone with more experience. Chris Rock and Tommy Davidson were also considered for the role of Smokey. Ice Cube and Pooh immediately decided on Tucker, after discovering the comic through "Def Comedy Jam". However, Tucker's first audition was poorly received, but was granted more time to try again at a later date. Tucker soon contacted Angela Means, aiming to work with her acting coach, but she invited him to a workshop session over dinner to help him secure the role. According to Means, "by the time that spaghetti was gone, Chris was Smokey."


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Ice Cube was granted license to select the film's director, and decided on F. Gary Gray, who was a music video director. Gray had previously worked with Ice Cube on a number of occasions, and was also aiming to establish a foothold in Hollywood through a short film. Ice Cube instead offered him the role for "Friday", attracted to the fact that he and Gray had similar backgrounds, feeling the director would accurately capture the film's aesthetic.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Gray said that Ice Cube starring in a comedy "scared the shit out of me," as he doubted whether audiences would buy into Cube portraying a role so different from his public persona. Gray explained, "Ice Cube was the toughest man in America, and when you take someone [who] delivers hard-hitting social issues in hardcore gangsta rap, and who has a hardcore view on politics, you would never think comedy."


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: "Friday" was released on April 26, 1995, in the United States, June 30, 1995, in the United Kingdom, and October 5, 1995, in Australia. The film saw a limited, theatrical re-release in honor of its 20th anniversary on April 20, 2015, for one night only.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: The film was released on VHS October 10, 1995, on DVD March 2, 1999, and Blu-ray on September 8, 2009, with a new director's cut (97 minutes). The single disc DVD contains a theatrical trailer, a featurette on the film, and cast and crew interviews.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: "Friday" grossed $6,589,341 on its opening weekend debuting at #2 in the box office in 865 theaters, averaging $7,617 per theater. The film grossed $27,467,564 in North America, against a budget of $3.5 million.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 76% based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "What "Friday" might lack in taut construction or directorial flair, it more than makes up with its vibrant (albeit consistently crass) humor and the charming, energetic performances of its leads." Metacritic gives the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 9 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: The film has obtained a large cult following since its release. A scene in the film is the source of the internet meme "Bye, Felicia"—which is a phrase meant to dismiss an inconsequential person. Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison and San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel are both nicknamed Deebo in reference to the character from the film.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: The film's success spawned two sequels: "Next Friday" (2000) and "Friday After Next" (2002). A fourth installment, tentatively titled "Last Friday", has been in the works for several years. The film also inspired an animated series, titled "", which aired in summer 2007.


title: Friday (1995 film)

text: The sequel "Next Friday" was the most successful in the franchise grossing a total of $59.8 million worldwide.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: Mission: Impossible 2 (abbreviated as M:I-2) is a 2000 action spy film directed by John Woo and produced by and starring Tom Cruise. It is the sequel to "" (1996) and the second installment in the . The film also stars Dougray Scott, Thandiwe Newton, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson, Brendan Gleeson, Rade Sherbedgia, and Ving Rhames. In "Mission: Impossible 2", Ethan Hunt (Cruise) teams with professional thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Newton) to find and destroy a genetically modified disease held by rogue Impossible Missions Force (IMF) agent Sean Ambrose (Scott), who is Nordoff-Hall's former lover.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: "Mission: Impossible 2" was theatrically released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on May 24, 2000, and grossed $546 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of that year. Initial reaction from critics was mixed to positive, with praise for the action sequences and Woo's direction but some criticism for the characterization. The sequel, "", was released in 2006.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: Bio-chemical expert Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich sends a message to the IMF for Ethan Hunt, an old friend of his. He warns that his employer at Biocyte Pharmaceuticals forced him to develop a biological weapon to profit from the cure. He arranges to meet with Ethan to deliver the Chimera virus, and its remedy, Bellerophon. With Ethan on holiday, the IMF sends agent Sean Ambrose disguised as Ethan to meet Nekhorvich on a passenger plane. Ambrose goes rogue, killing Nekhorvich and stealing Bellerophon, destroying the aircraft to cover their escape.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: IMF director Swanbeck informs Hunt of the circumstances of Nekhorvich's death, and they determine Ambrose is responsible. Swanbeck tasks Ethan with recovering the virus and its cure and has him recruit Nyah Nordoff-Hall, a professional thief presently operating in Seville, Spain—and Ambrose's ex-girlfriend. Hunt successfully recruits her to trace Ambrose and his team, and to spy on Ambrose, despite her reluctance.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: Hunt assembles his team, computer hacker Luther Stickell and pilot Billy Baird, in Sydney, Australia, where Biocyte laboratories are located, and Ambrose is staying. As Ethan stakes out Biocyte, Nyah rekindles her former relationship with Ambrose and relays information to Ethan's team. Ambrose meets with Biocyte's CEO, John C. McCloy, and shows him a video of Chimera infecting one of Nekhorvich's colleagues before blackmailing McCloy into cooperating with him. Nyah steals the camera's memory card and delivers it to Ethan. They learn that Chimera has a 20-hour dormant period before it causes death by mass destruction of the victim's red blood cells. Bellerophon can only save the victim if used within that 20-hour window. When Nyah discreetly returns the memory card to Ambrose, he notices it is in the wrong pocket of his jacket.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: Hunt's team kidnaps McCloy to sting him for information. They discover that the only Bellerophon samples were taken by Nekhorvich and are now in Ambrose's hands. Ambrose has the cure but does not have the virus; unbeknownst to him at the time, Nekhorvich injected himself with Chimera to smuggle it out of Biocyte. Ambrose plans to exchange a sample of Bellerophon to McCloy for the Chimera. Hunt's team breaks into Biocyte to destroy the virus before the exchange can take place. Ambrose, posing as Ethan, tricks Nyah into revealing the plan, then captures Nyah and raids Biocyte to secure the virus. Ethan can destroy all but one sample of Chimera before Ambrose intervenes, and a firefight ensues, culminating in the sample being dropped on the floor between Ambrose and Ethan. Ambrose commands Nyah to collect the specimen; however, she injects herself with it, preventing Ambrose from eliminating her after the retrieval. Nyah begs Ethan to kill her along with the virus, but Ethan refuses. Ambrose abducts Nyah as Ethan flees the facility.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: Ambrose releases Nyah to wander the streets of Sydney in a daze, intending to start a pandemic. He offers to sell Bellerophon to McCloy in exchange for stock options to make him Biocyte's majority shareholder. He plans to get rich from Biocyte's stock due to demand for Bellerophon after Chimera is released. Hunt infiltrates the meeting and steals the remaining samples of Bellerophon. While Hunt is pursued by Ambrose's men, Luther and Billy locate Nyah, who has wandered to a cliffside, intent on killing herself to prevent the eventual outbreak. Ethan kills Ambrose's men, but the last man, Hugh Stamp (Ambrose's best friend) is accidentally shot by Ambrose himself. Ambrose chases Hunt to a beach, where Hunt defeats him in a brutal fistfight. With little time left on the 20-hour countdown, Luther reaches Ethan at the beach. As Ethan is about to give Luther the Bellerophon canister, Ambrose recovers and points a gun at Hunt. Hunt throws the canister to Luther and jumps away from Ambrose's shot while kicking up a pistol from the sand he uses to finally kill Ambrose. Luther injects Nyah with the Bellerophon in time to save her.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: Director Swanbeck realizes that Hunt destroyed the virus but the IMF clears Nyah's criminal record, and Ethan starts his vacation with her in Sydney.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: Additionally, Anthony Hopkins appears in an uncredited cameo appearance as Mission Commander Swanbeck.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: According to screenwriter Robert Towne, several action sequences were already planned for the film prior to his involvement and before the story had been written. Ian McKellen was offered the part of Mission Commander Swanbeck but turned it down.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: The studio expressed concern about the safety of filming Tom Cruise's entrance scene, in which he is free solo climbing at Dead Horse Point State Park in Moab, Utah. Cruise refused to drop the idea because he could not think of a better way to reintroduce the character. There was no safety net as he filmed the sequence, but he did have a harness and a thin wire. He tore his shoulder when performing the jump from one part of the cliff to another.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: Thandiwe Newton discussed her unpleasant on-set experiences with Cruise during the shooting of the balcony sequence in a 2020 interview. According to Newton, Cruise was heavily stressed over the expectations of the sequel being good and was upset during the shooting of said scene because she had "the shittiest lines". The two decided to reverse roleplay each other as practice. However, it was unhelpful for her and pushed her "into a place of terror and insecurity". After the shooting was finished for the day, she contacted Jonathan Demme, telling him what happened. Looking back on that day, Newton said about Cruise, "Bless him. And I really do mean bless him because he was trying his damnedest."


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: The film's original score was composed and conducted by Hans Zimmer and features vocals performed by Lisa Gerrard. In addition, the film includes contemporary music such as Limp Bizkit's rendition of Lalo Schifrin's entitled "Take a Look Around" as well as Metallica's "I Disappear".


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: While Ethan is rock climbing during his holiday, Zap Mama's remixed version of "Iko Iko" plays on the soundtrack.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: "Mission: Impossible 2" was released on VHS and DVD on November 7, 2000, with a rare Japanese LaserDisc release following on April 3, 2001 (released late in the format's life), with a potential North American release of this LaserDisc being cancelled in mid-2001. A Blu-ray release followed on June 3, 2008, and an Ultra HD Blu-ray version was released on June 26, 2018.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: On opening day, "Mission: Impossible 2" made $12.5 million, making it the fourth-highest Wednesday opening, behind "Men in Black", "Independence Day" and "". At that time, it had the largest number of screenings, playing at 3,653 theaters and beating "Scream 3". The film would go on to hold this record until it was surpassed by "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" the following year. It grossed $57,845,297, crossing over "Toy Story 2" to have the third-highest opening weekend of all time, behind "" and "The Phantom Menace". Moreover, the film surpassed its predecessor "" for not only having the highest opening weekend for a film based on a TV show, but also the largest opening weekend for any Paramount film. It also dethroned "" for scoring the biggest opening weekend for a spy film. The latter record would be held until 2002 when it was given to "Austin Powers in Goldmember". Three years later in 2005, "War of the Worlds" surpassed "Mission: Impossible 2" for having the highest opening weekend for a Paramount film. Then in 2007, "The Simpsons Movie" took the record for having the biggest opening weekend for a film based on a TV show. As for "Mission: Impossible 2", it earned $91.8 million in its first six days, becoming the second largest Memorial Day opening weekend, just after "The Lost World: Jurassic Park".


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: When "Mission: Impossible 2" first opened, the film was ranked number one at the box office, topping out "Dinosaur". It held on to the number one spot for two weekends until it was overtaken by "Gone in 60 Seconds". Around this time, the film went on to become the highest-grossing film of the year domestically, beating "Gladiator". It would remain so until that December when it was dethroned by "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". The film eventually grossed $215,409,889 in its North American release and $330,978,216 in other territories, totaling $546,388,105 worldwide, the highest-grossing film of 2000. It is John Woo's highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing "Face/Off", and was the highest-grossing film in the "Mission: Impossible" series until the release of the fourth film, "", in 2011.


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes indicates "Mission: Impossible 2" has an overall approval rating of 57% based on 143 reviews and an average score of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Your cranium may crave more substance, but your eyes will feast on the amazing action sequences." Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 40 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, down from the first film's "B+".


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" awarded the film three stars, stating "if the first movie was entertaining as sound, fury, and movement, this one is more evolved, more confident, more sure-footed in the way it marries minimal character development to seamless action." Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" felt the film was a "throwaway pleasure" but also "a triumph of souped-up action." Ella Taylor of "LA Weekly" said that "every car chase, every plane crash, every potential drop off a cliff is a masterpiece of grace and surprise." Desson Howe of "The Washington Post" said that "[John] Woo [...] takes complete command of the latest technology to create brilliant action sequences." Lou Lumenick of the "New York Post" said, "Check your brains at the popcorn stand and hang on for a spectacular ride."


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: J. Hoberman of "The Village Voice" called the film "a vaguely absurd thriller filled with elaborately superfluous setups and shamelessly stale James Bond riffs." Dennis Harvey of "Variety" said the film is "even more empty a luxury vehicle than its predecessor" and that it "pushes the envelope in terms of just how much flashy packaging an audience will buy when there's absolutely nada inside." Jonathan Rosenbaum of the "Chicago Reader" said that "no hero or villain winds up carrying any moral weight at all."


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: In a retrospective commentary in 2012, Brad Brevet noted the film has significant similarities in plot and themes to Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 film "Notorious".


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: "Mission: Impossible 2" was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards at the 2000 ceremony, including Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Supporting Actress for Thandie Newton. It was also nominated for a Stinker Award at the 2000 ceremony for Worst Song (Limp Bizkit's "Take a Look Around").


title: Mission: Impossible 2

text: A comedy short titled "Mission: Improbable" was shown during the 2000 MTV Movie Awards. It is a mockumentary of the behind-the-scenes stunts of "Mission: Impossible 2", and stars Cruise, Ben Stiller, and Woo.


title: Ernie Hudson

text: Earnest Lee Hudson (born December 17, 1945) is an American actor. His roles include Winston Zeddemore in the "Ghostbusters" film series, Sergeant Darryl Albrecht in "The Crow" (1994), and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's "Oz" (1997–2003). Hudson has also acted in the films "Leviathan" (1989), "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" (1992), "Airheads" (1994), "The Basketball Diaries" (1995), "Congo" (1995), "Miss Congeniality" (2000), and as Principal Turner in "The Ron Clark Story" (2006).


title: Ernie Hudson

text: Hudson had appeared in the television shows "St. Elsewhere" (1984), "The Last Precinct" (1986), "" (2003–2004), "Desperate Housewives" (2006–2007), "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" (2008–2013), "Law & Order" (2009–2010), the voice of Agent Bill Fowler in "" (2010–2013), "Franklin & Bash" (2012–2014), "Grace and Frankie" (2015–2020), and "L.A.'s Finest" (2019–2020).


title: Ernie Hudson

text: He had a cameo as Patty Tolan's uncle in the remake of "Ghostbusters" (2016), and reprised his role as Winston in "" (2021).


title: Ernie Hudson

text: Hudson was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan. He never knew his father. His mother, Maggie Donald, died of tuberculosis when he was two months old. He was subsequently raised by his maternal grandmother, Arrana Donald.


title: Ernie Hudson

text: Hudson joined the United States Marine Corps immediately after high school, but was discharged after only three months on medical grounds due to asthma. Having moved to Detroit, he became the resident playwright at Concept East, the oldest black theater company in the United States. He enrolled at Wayne State University to further develop his writing and acting skills, graduating in 1973. He established the Actors' Ensemble Theatre where he and other talented young black writers directed and appeared in their own works. He was briefly in a doctoral program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities before leaving to appear in a stage production of "The Great White Hope". Later, he studied toward a Master of Fine Arts in acting at Yale School of Drama, but left after a year to appear in "Leadbelly".


title: Ernie Hudson

text: In an interview with Belief.net, Hudson stated that he is a practicing Christian, but does not believe that "one church is the right one".


title: Ernie Hudson

text: One of Hudson's early film roles is in "Penitentiary II" (1982) starring Leon Isaac Kennedy. He had various guest roles on television series such as "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "The A-Team". He was on the television series "Fantasy Island" in a first-season episode as a voodoo man named Jamu. Hudson gained fame playing Winston Zeddemore in the 1984 feature film "Ghostbusters" and its 1989 sequel, "Ghostbusters II". He auditioned to reprise the role for the animated series, "The Real Ghostbusters", but it was given to Arsenio Hall. He had a major supporting role as the mentally challenged handyman Solomon in "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" (1992).


title: Ernie Hudson

text: Hudson was cast as Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's series "Oz", and his son Ernie Hudson Jr. co-starred with him as Muslim inmate Hamid Khan. Hudson also appears as the character Munro in "Congo" (1995) and as Police Sergeant Albrecht in "The Crow" (1994). He switched gears when he played a preacher opening the eyes of a small town's prejudice in the 1950s in "A Stranger in the Kingdom". He played Harry McDonald, the FBI superior of Sandra Bullock's character in the feature film "Miss Congeniality" (2000). He is in the "Stargate SG-1" episode "Ethon" as Pernaux. He appeared as Reggie in the 1995 film "The Basketball Diaries". In 2006, he appeared in the television movie "The Ron Clark Story" as Principal Turner. In 2008, he began a recurring role as Dr. Fields on "The Secret Life of the American Teenager". He had a recurring role on the final season of "Law & Order" as Lt. Anita Van Buren's boyfriend and then fiancé.


title: Ernie Hudson

text: Beginning in 2015, Hudson was cast in a recurring role as Jacob, an organic farmer who is the romantic interest for Frankie Bergstein (Lily Tomlin) in the series "Grace and Frankie".


title: Ernie Hudson

text: Hudson appeared in the 2016 "Ghostbusters" reboot, playing Bill Jenkins, the uncle of Leslie Jones's lead character Pattie Tolan.


title: Ernie Hudson

text: In 2019, Hudson began starring in "L.A.'s Finest", playing the estranged father of Gabrielle Union's character. Hudson called it "a very different show", citing the duality of having to protect people as a member of law enforcement while having unresolved relationships that need to be reconciled. Spectrum canceled the series after two seasons the following year.


title: Ernie Hudson

text: In August 2019, he confirmed his involvement in "" directed by Jason Reitman, joining original cast members Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Annie Potts. Hudson described himself as being welled by emotions after he put on his jumpsuit and proton pack, as he had previously "accepted that [a film] was never going to happen".


title: Ernie Hudson

text: Hudson appeared in the 2022 drama film "Prisoner's Daughter", alongside Kate Beckinsale and Brian Cox.


title: Ernie Hudson

text: Hudson married his first wife, Jeannie Moore, in 1963, when she was sixteen and he was eighteen. They had two sons, Ernie Hudson Jr. and Rahaman Hudson. When Hudson and Jeannie divorced in 1976, their sons moved to live with Hudson in California. In 1985, Hudson married former flight attendant Linda Kingsberg, and they had two sons, Andrew and Ross.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu - one of the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism. Puri is in the state of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India. The present temple was rebuilt from the tenth century onwards, on the site of pre existing temples in the compound but not the main Jagannatha temple, and begun by Anantavarman Chodaganga, the first king of the Eastern Ganga dynasty.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The Puri temple is famous for its annual Ratha Yatra, or chariot festival, in which the three principal deities are pulled on huge and elaborately decorated temple cars. Unlike the stone and metal icons found in most Hindu temples, the image of Jagannath (which gave its name to the English term 'juggernaut') is made of wood and is ceremoniously replaced every twelve or 19 years by an exact replica. It is one of the Char Dham pilgrimage sites.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The temple is sacred to all Hindus, and especially in those of the Vaishnava traditions. Many great Vaishnava saints, such as Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Nimbarkacharya, Vallabhacharya and Ramananda were closely associated with the temple. Ramanuja established the Emar Mutt near the temple and Adi Shankaracharya established the Govardhan Math, which is the seat of one of the four Shankaracharyas. It is also of particular significance to the followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, whose founder, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, was attracted to the deity, Jagannath, and lived in Puri for many years.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The temple was rebuilt by the Ganga dynasty king Anantavarman Chodaganga in the 12th century CE, as suggested by the Kendupatna copper-plate inscription of his descendant Narasimhadeva II. Anantavarman was originally a Shaivite, and became a Vaishnavite sometime after he conquered the Utkala region (in which the temple is located) in 1112 CE. A 1134–1135 CE inscription records his donation to the temple. Therefore, the temple construction must have started sometime after 1112 CE.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: According to a story in the temple chronicles, it was founded by Anangabhima-deva II: different chronicles variously mention the year of construction as 1196, 1197, 1205, 1216, or 1226. This suggests that the temple's construction was completed or that the temple was renovated during the reign of Anantavarman's son Anangabhima. The temple complex was further developed during the reigns of the subsequent kings, including those of the Ganga dynasty and the Gajapati dynasty.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are a trio of deities worshipped at the temple. The inner sanctum of the temple contains the deities of them carved from sacred neem logs known as "daru" sitting on the bejewelled platform or "ratnabedi", along with deities of Sudarshana Chakra, Madanmohan, Sridevi and Vishwadhatri. The deities are adorned with different clothing and jewels according to the season. Worship of these deities pre-dates the building of the temple and may have originated in an ancient tribal shrine.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: According to legend, the construction of the first Jagannath temple was commissioned by King Indradyumna, son of Bharata and Sunanda, and a Malava king, mentioned in the Mahabharata and the Puranas.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The legendary account as found in the Skanda-Purana, Brahma Purana and other Puranas and later Odia works state that Lord Jagannath was originally worshipped as Lord Neela Madhaba by a Savar king (tribal chief) named Viswavasu. Having heard about the deity, King Indradyumna sent a Brahmin priest, Vidyapati to locate the deity, who was worshipped secretly in a dense forest by Viswavasu. Vidyapati tried his best but could not locate the place. But at last he managed to marry Viswavasu's daughter Lalita. At repeated request of Vidyapti, Viswavasu took his son-in-law blind folded to a cave where Lord Neela Madhaba was worshipped.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Vidyapati was very intelligent. He dropped mustard seeds on the ground on the way. The seeds germinated after a few days, which enabled him to find out the cave later on. On hearing from him, King Indradyumna proceeded immediately to Odra desha (Odisha) on a pilgrimage to see and worship the Deity. But the deity had disappeared. The king was disappointed. The Deity was hidden in sand. The king was determined not to return without having a darshan of the deity and observed fast unto death at Mount Neela, Then a celestial voice cried Thou shalt see him. Afterward, the king performed a horse sacrifice and built a magnificent temple for Vishnu. Narasimha Murti brought by Narada was installed in the temple. During sleep, the king had a vision of Lord Jagannath. Also an astral voice directed him to receive the fragrant tree on the seashore and make deities out of it. Accordingly, the king got the image of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Chakra Sudarshan made out of the wood of the divine tree and installed them in the temple.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: King Indradyumna put up for Jagannath the tallest monument of the world. It was 1,000 cubits high. He invited Lord Brahma, the cosmic creator, consecrate the temple and the images. Brahma came all the way from Heaven for this purpose. Seeing the temple he was immensely pleased with him. Brahma asked Indradyumna as to in what way can he (Brahma) fulfill the king's desire, since was very much pleased with him for his having put the most beautiful Temple for Lord Vishnu. With folded hands, Indradyumna said, "My Lord if you are really pleased with me, kindly bless me with one thing, and it is that I should be issueless and that I should be the last member of my family." In case anybody left alive after him, he would only take pride as the owner of the temple and would not work for the society.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The traditional story concerning the origins of the Lord Jagannath temple is that here the original image of Jagannath (a deity form of Vishnu) at the end of Dvapara yuga manifested near a banyan tree, near seashore in the form of an Indranila mani or the Blue Jewel. It was so dazzling that it could grant instant moksha, so the God Dharma or Yama wanted to hide it in the earth and was successful. In Kali Yuga King Indradyumna of Malwa wanted to find that mysterious image and to do so he performed harsh penance to obtain his goal. Vishnu then instructed him to go to the Puri seashore and find a floating log to make an image from its trunk.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The King found the log of wood. He did a yajna from which God Yajna Nrisimha appeared and instructed that Narayana should be made as fourfold expansion, i.e. Paramatma as "Vasudeva", his Vyuha as "Samkarshana", Yogamaya as "Subhadra", and his Vibhava as "Sudarsana". Vishwakarma appeared in the form of an artisan and prepared images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra from the tree.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: When this log, radiant with light was seen floating in the sea, Narada told the king to make three deities out of it and place them in a pavilion. Indradyumna got Visvakarma, the architect of Gods, to build a magnificent temple to house the deities, and Vishnu himself appeared in the guise of a carpenter to make the deities on condition that he was to be left undisturbed until he finished the work.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: But just after two weeks, the Queen became very anxious. She took the carpenter to be dead as no sound came from the temple. Therefore, she requested the king to open the door. Thus, they went to see Vishnu at work at which the latter abandoned his work leaving the deities unfinished. The deity was devoid of any hands. But a divine voice told Indradyumana to install them in the temple. It has also been widely believed that in spite of the deity being without hands, it can watch over the world and be its lord. Thus the idiom.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The temple annals, the Madala Panji records that the Jagannath temple at Puri has been invaded and plundered eighteen times. In 1692, Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb ordered to close the temple until he wanted to reopen it otherwise it would be demolished, the local Mughal officials who came to carry out the job were requested by the locals and the temple was merely closed. It was re-opened only after Aurangzeb's death in 1707.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Non-Hindus are not permitted to enter the temple. Visitors not allowed to enter may view the temple and precinct from the roof of the nearby Raghunandan Library and pay their respects to the image of God Jagannath seen at the main entrance to the temple.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The temple is open from 5:00 am to midnight. Unlike in many other temples, devotees can go around and behind the deities . During the special darshan, or "parimanik darshan", devotees pay a small fee to go right up to the deities. All devotees are allowed to go right up to the deities during the "sahana mela" (general appearance) 7am-8:00 am without paying any fees.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Starting from Lord Jagannath himself, history has it that he was a tribal deity, adorned by the Sabar people, as a symbol of Narayan. Another legend claims him to be Nilamadhava, an image of Narayana made of blue stone and worshipped by the aboriginals. He was brought to Nilagiri (blue mountain) or Nilachala and installed there as Shri Jagannath in company with Balabhadra and Subhadra. The images made of wood are also claimed to have their distant linkage with the vanvasi (forest dwellers) system of worshipping wooden poles. To cap it all the Daitapatis, who have a fair share of responsibilities to perform rituals of the Temple, are claimed to be descendants of the hill tribes of Odisha. So we may safely claim that the beginning of the cultural history of Shrikshetra is found in the cultures of Hindu tribes. The three deities came to be claimed as the symbols of "Samyak Darshan", "Samyak Jnana" and "Samyak Charita" usually regarded as Ratnatraya, triple gems of the Jain culture, assimilation of which leads to Omniscience and Moksha (salvation).


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Jagannath is worshipped as Vishnu or Narayana or Krishna and Lord Balabhadra as Shesha. Simultaneously, the deities are regarded as the bhairava with Vimala (the devi or the consort of Shiva) installed in the campus of the temple. So ultimately we find a fusion of Saivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism of the Hindu religion so reverently held together in Shrikshetra.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: All of the renowned acharyas including Madhvacharya have been known to visit this kshetra. Adi Shankara established his Govardhana matha here. Guru Nanak had visited this place with his disciples Bala and Manda. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Gaudiya Vaishnavism stayed here for 24 years, establishing that the love of God can be spread by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. Srimad Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhu visited Jagannath Puri and performed a 7-day recitation of Srimad Bhagvat. His sitting place is still famous as his "baithakji", roughly literally translating to his seat. It confirms his visit to Puri.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: A famous incident took place when JagadGuru Acharya Srimad Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhu visited. There was a Shastrartha being held between the Brahmins before the king himself and 4 questions were asked. Who is the highest of Gods, What is the highest of mantras, What is the highest scripture and What is the highest service. The discourse went on for many days with many schools of thought. Very young teen Vallabhacharyaji Mahaprabhu also joined the debated and answered all the questions at once. His answers were accepted and appreciated by all except few opposition scholars, they challenged the answers. The debate then resumed for a long period.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Finally Shri Vallabhacharya said to ask Lord Jagannath to confirm Shri Vallabh's answers. It was mutually decided between all scholars and king that whatever Lord Jagannath would write, it would be considered as the final and correct answer.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: A pen, inkpot and the paper were left alone in the inner sanctum before the deity to write the answers.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: After some time, the doors were opened and 4 answers were found to be written. 1) The Son of Devaki (Krishna) is the God of Gods 2) His name is the highest of mantras 3) Highest of all scriptures is Devki Putra's Bhagavat Geeta 4) Service to Him is the Highest service.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The king along with all other scholars were shocked and declared Shri Vallabh the winner of the discourse.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Some of the pandits who participated became jealous of young Shri Vallabh and wanted to test Him. The next day was Ekadashi, a fasting day where one must fast from grains. The pandits gave Shri Vallabh rice Prasad of Shri Jagannathji (The temple is famous for this). If Shri Vallabh ate it, He would break His vow of fasting but if He did not take it, He would disrespect Lord Jagannath. Shri Vallabh with all honor and respect accepted the prasad in his hand. He stood there in the temple, spent the rest of the day and night explaining shlokas of the greatness of Prasad and ate the rice the next morning after sunrise.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The Sikh Aarti Gagan mai thaal was recited by first guru, Guru Nanak in 1506 or 1508 during his journey (called "udaasi") to east India, at the revered Jagannath Temple, Puri. This arti is sung (not performed with platter and lamps etc.) daily after recitation of Rehraas Sahib and Ardās at the Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar and at most Gurudwara sahibs.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The temple is one of the holiest Vaishnava Hindu "Char Dham" (four divine sites) sites also including Rameswaram, Badrinath, Puri and Dwarka. Though the origins are not clearly known, the Advaita school of Hinduism propagated by Sankaracharya, who created Hindu monastic institutions across India, attributes the origin of Char Dham to the seer. The four monasteries lie across the four corners of India and their attendant temples are Badrinath Temple at Badrinath in the North, Jagannath Temple at Puri in the East, Dwarakadheesh Temple at Dwarka in the West and Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameswaram in the South. Though ideologically the temples are divided between the sects of Hinduism, namely Saivism and Vaishnavism, the Char Dham pilgrimage is an all Hindu affair. There are four abodes in Himalayas called Chota Char Dham ("Chota" meaning small): Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri - all of these lie at the foothills of Himalayas The name "Chota" was added during the mid of 20th century to differentiate the original Char Dhams. The journey across the four cardinal points in India is considered sacred by Hindus who aspire to visit these temples once in their lifetime. Traditionally the trip starts at the eastern end from Puri, proceeding in clockwise direction in a manner typically followed for circumambulation in Hindu temples.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The huge temple complex covers an area of over , and is surrounded by a high fortified wall. This high wall is known as Meghanada Pacheri. Another wall known as kurma bedha surrounds the main temple. It contains at least 120 temples and shrines. With its sculptural richness and fluidity of the Oriya style of temple architecture, it is one of the most magnificent monuments of India. The temple has four distinct sectional structures, namely -


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The main temple is a curvilinear temple and crowning the top is the 'Neelachakra' (an eight spoked wheel) of Lord Vishnu.It is made out of Ashtadhatu and is considered sacrosanct. Among the existing temples in Orissa, the temple of Shri Jagannath is the highest. The temple tower was built on a raised platform of stone and, rising to above the inner sanctum where the deities reside, dominates the surrounding landscape. The pyramidal roofs of the surrounding temples and adjoining halls, or mandapas, rise in steps toward the tower like a ridge of mountain peaks.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The Nila Chakra (Blue Discus) is the discus mounted on the top shikhar of the Jagannath Temple. As per custom, everyday a different flag is waved on the Nila Chakra. The flag hoisted on the Nila Chakra is called the Patita Pavana (Purifier of the Fallen) and is equivalent to the image of the deities placed in the sanctum sanctorum.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The Nila Chakra is a disc with eight Navagunjaras carved on the outer circumference, with all facing towards the flagpost above. It is made of alloy of eight metals (Asta-dhatu) and is 3.5 Metres (11 feet and 8 inches) high with a circumference of about 11 metres (36 feet). During the year 2010, the Nila Chakra was repaired and restored by the Archaeological Survey of India.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The Nila Chakra is distinct from the Sudarshana chakra which has been placed with the deities in the inner sanctorum.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Nila Chakra is the most revered iconic symbol in the Jagannath tradition. The Nila Chakra is the only physical object whose markings are used as sacrament and considered sacred in Jagannath worship. It symbolizes protection by Shri Jagannath.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The "Singahdwara", which in Sanskrit means The Lion Gate, is one of the four gates to the temple and forms the Main entrance. The Singhadwara is so named because two huge statues of crouching lions exist on either side of the entrance. The gate faces east opening on to the "Bada Danda" or the Grand Road. The "Baisi Pahacha" or the flight of twenty two steps leads into the temple complex. An deity of Jagannath known as "Patitapavana", which in Sanskrit, means the "Saviour of the downtrodden and the fallen" is painted on the right side of the entrance. In ancient times when untouchables were not allowed inside the temple, they could pray to Patita Pavana. The statues of the two guards to the temple Jaya and Vijaya stand on either side of the doorway. Just before the commencement of the Rath Yatra the deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are taken out of the temple through this gate. On their return from the Gundicha Temple they have to ceremonially placate Goddess Mahalakshmi, whose deity is carved atop the door, for neglecting to take her with them on the Yatra. Only then the Goddess allows them permission to enter the temple. A magnificent sixteen-sided monolithic pillar known as the Aruna Stambha stands in front of the main gate. This pillar has an idol of Arun, the charioteer of the Sun God Surya, on its top. One significant thing about Arun stambha is that prior it was located in the Konark Sun temple, later, the Maratha guru Brahmachari Gosain brought this pillar from Konark.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Apart from the Singhadwara, which is the main entrance to the temple, there are three other entrances facing north, south and west. They are named after the sculptures of animals guarding them. The other entrances are the "Hathidwara" or the Elephant Gate, the "Vyaghradwara" or the Tiger Gate and the "Ashwadwara" or the Horse Gate.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: There are numerous smaller temples and shrines within the Temple complex where active worship is regularly conducted. The Vimala Temple (Bimala Temple) is considered one of the most important of the Shaktipeeths marks the spot where the Goddess Sati's navel fell. It is located near Rohini Kund in the temple complex. Until food offered to Jagannath is offered to Goddess Vimala it is not considered Mahaprasad.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The temple of Mahalakshmi has an important role in rituals of the main temple. It is said that preparation of naivedya as offering for Jagannath is supervised by Mahalakshmi. The Kanchi Ganesh Temple is dedicated to Uchchhishta Ganapati. Tradition says the King of Kanchipuram (Kanchi) in ancient times gifted the deity, when Gajapati Purushottama Deva married Padmavati, the "kanchi" princess. There are other shrines namely Muktimandap, Surya, Saraswati, Bhuvaneshwari, Narasimha, Rama, Hanuman and Eshaneshwara.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: There are many Mandapas or Pillared halls on raised platforms within the temple complex meant for religious congregations. The most prominent is the Mukti Mandapa the congregation hall of the holy seat of selected learned Brahmins.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Here important decisions regarding conduct of daily worship and festivals are taken. The "Dola Mandapa" is noteworthy for a beautifully carved stone Torana or arch which is used for constructing a swing for the annual Dol Yatra festival. During the festival the deity of Dologobinda is placed on the swing. The Snana Bedi is a rectangular stone platform where deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are placed for ceremonial bathing during the annual Snana Yatra.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The Mahaprasad of Lord Jagannath are distributed amongst the devotees near the Ratnavedi inside the frame of Phokaria, which is being drawn by the Puja pandas using Muruj, except for the Gopal Ballav Bhog and Bhog Mandap Bhoga which are distributed in the Anabsar Pindi & Bhoga Mandap respectively.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The temple's kitchen is the largest in the world. Tradition holds that all Mahaprasad cooking in the temple kitchens is supervised by the Goddess Mahalakshmi, the empress of "Srimandir" herself, and that if the food prepared has any fault in it, a shadow dog appears near the temple kitchen, a sign of her displeasure. If the shadow dog is seen, the food is promptly buried and a new batch cooked. All 56 varieties of food produced are vegetarian and prepared without onions, garlic, as prescribed by Hindu religious texts. Cooking is done only in earthen pots using water drawn from two special wells near the kitchen called Ganga and Yamuna. The most awaited offering is "Kotho Bhoga" or "Abadha", offered after midday. After being offered to Jagannath and the other deities, the food is sold at Ananda Bajara, an open food market inside the temple.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: There are elaborate daily worship services. There are many festivals each year attended by millions of people. The most important festival is the Rath Yatra or the Chariot festival in June. This spectacular festival includes a procession of three huge chariots bearing the deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra through the "Bada Danda" meaning the Grand Avenue of Puri until their final destination the Gundicha Temple.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Early European observers told tales of devotees being crushed under the wheels of these chariots, whether by accident or even as a form of meritorious suicide akin to suttee. These reports gave rise to the loan word juggernaut suggesting something immense and unstoppable. Many festivals like Dol Yatra in spring and Jhulan Yatra in monsoon are celebrated by temple every year. "Pavitrotsava" and "Damanaka utsava" are celebrated as per panchanga or panjika. There are special ceremonies in the month of Kartika and Pausha.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The annual "shodasha dinatmaka" or 16-day puja beginning 8 days prior to Mahalaya of Ashwin month for Goddess Vimala and ending on Vijayadashami, is of great importance, in which both the utsava murty of lord Madanmohan and Vimala take part.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: In Akshaya Tritiya every year the Chandan Yatra festival marks the commencement of the construction of the Chariots of the Rath Yatra.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: On the Purnima of the month of Jyestha the Gods are ceremonially bathed and decorated every year on the occasion of Snana Yatra.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Literally means vacation. Every year, the main deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra & Sudarshan after the holy Snana Yatra on the jyestha purnima, go to a secret altar named "Anavasara Ghar" where they remain for the next dark fortnight (Krishna paksha). Hence devotees are not allowed to view them. So devotees worship at the nearby Brahmagiri temple of Alarnath, an icon of a four-handed Vishnu as a manifestation of Jagannath. Devotees get the first glimpse of the devotees on the day before Rath Yatra, which is called "Navayouvana". It is said that the deities fall in fever after taking a huge bath and they are treated by the special servants named, Daitapatis for 15 days. During this period cooked food is not offered to the deities.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The Jagannath triad are usually worshiped in the sanctum of the temple at Puri, but once during the month of Asadha (Rainy Season of Orissa, usually falling in month of June or July), they are brought out onto the Bada Danda (main street of Puri) and travel (3 km) to the Shri Gundicha Temple, in huge chariots (ratha), allowing the public to have darśana (Holy view). This festival is known as Rath Yatra, meaning the journey (yatra) of the chariots (ratha). The Rathas are huge wheeled wooden structures, which are built anew every year and are pulled by the devotees. The chariot for Jagannath is approximately 45 feet high and 35 feet square and takes about 2 months to construct. The artists and painters of Puri decorate the cars and paint flower petals and other designs on the wheels, the wood-carved charioteer and horses, and the inverted lotuses on the wall behind the throne. The huge chariots of Jagannath pulled during Rath Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word Juggernaut. The Ratha-Yatra is also termed as the Shri Gundicha yatra.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The most significant ritual associated with the Ratha-Yatra is the "chhera pahara". During the festival, the Gajapati King wears the outfit of a sweeper and sweeps all around the deities and chariots in the "Chera Pahara" (sweeping with water) ritual. The Gajapati King cleanses the road before the chariots with a gold-handled broom and sprinkles sandalwood water and powder with utmost devotion. As per the custom, although the Gajapati King has been considered the most exalted person in the Kalingan kingdom, he still renders the menial service to Jagannath. This ritual signified that under the lordship of Jagannath, there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign Gajapati King and the most humble devotee. "Chera pahara" is held on two days, on the first day of the Ratha Yatra, when the deities are taken to garden house at Mausi Maa Temple and again on the last day of the festival, when the deities are ceremoniously brought back to the Shri Mandir.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: As per another ritual, when the deities are taken out from the Shri Mandir to the Chariots in "Pahandi vijay".


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: In the Ratha Yatra, the three deities are taken from the Jagannath Temple in the chariots to the Gundicha Temple, where they stay for nine days. Thereafter, the deities again ride the chariots back to Shri Mandir in "bahuda yatra". On the way back, the three chariots halt at the Mausi Maa Temple and the deities are offered "Poda Pitha," a kind of baked cake which are generally consumed by the Odisha people only.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The observance of the Rath Yatra of Jagannath dates back to the period of the Puranas. Vivid descriptions of this festival are found in Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, and Skanda Purana. Kapila Samhita also refers to Rath Yatra. In Moghul period also, King Ramsingh of Jaipur, Rajasthan has been described as organizing the Rath Yatra in the 18th Century. In Orissa, Kings of Mayurbhanj and Parlakhemundi were organizing the Rath Yatra, though the most grand festival in terms of scale and popularity takes place at Puri.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Moreover, Starza notes that the ruling Ganga dynasty instituted the Rath Yatra at the completion of the great temple around 1150 AD. This festival was one of those Hindu festivals that was reported to the Western world very early. Friar Odoric of Pordenone visited India in 1316–1318, some 20 years after Marco Polo had dictated the account of his travels while in a Genoese prison. In his own account of 1321, Odoric reported how the people put the deities on chariots, and the King and Queen and all the people drew them from the "church" with song and music.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Celebrated on Asadha Trayodashi. Niladri Bije is the concluding day of Ratha yatra. On this day deities return to the ratna bedi. Lord Jagannath offers Rasgulla to Goddess Laxmi to enter into the temple.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Celebrated for 16 days from Ashwina Krushna dwitiya to Vijayadashami. As per tradition, the deity of Madhaba, along with the deity of Goddess Durga (known as Durgamadhaba), is taken on a tour of the temple premises. The tour within the temple is observed for the first eight days. For the next eight days, the deities are taken outside the temple on a palanquin to the nearby Narayani temple situated in the Dolamandapa lane. After their worship, they are brought back to the temple.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Nabakalabera is a ritual associated with Jagannath which takes place every 8, 12 or 19 years, when one lunar month of Ashadha is followed by another lunar month of Aashadha. Meaning "New Body", the ritual involves installation of new images in the Jagannath Temple and the burial of the old images at the temple at Koili Vaikuntha. The festival is witnessed by as millions of people and its budget exceeds $500,000. More than three million devotees were expected to visit the temple during the Nabakalevara in 2015, making it one of the most visited festivals in the world.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: After independence, the State Government, with a view to getting better administrative system, passed "The Puri Shri Jagannath Temple (Administration) Act, 1952". It contained provisions to prepare the Record of Rights and duties of Sevayats and such other persons connected with the system of worship and management of the temple. Subsequently Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955 was enacted to reorganize the management system of the affair of the temple and its properties.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: Dibyasingha Deb is the "adhyasevak" (chief "servitor") of the temple. He took the role in 1970 at the age of 17, after the death of his father, Birakishore Deb, then the Maharaja of Puri.


title: Jagannath Temple, Puri

text: The security at the temple has increased ahead of Ratha Yatra, the homecoming festival of the deities of Jagannath temple. In the wake of terror alert on 27 June 2012, the security forces were increased to ensure smooth functioning of the crowded Ratha Yatra and Suna Besha.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon. It was conducted by the United States Army at 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project. The test was conducted in the Jornada del Muerto desert about southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, on what was then the USAAF Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, now part of White Sands Missile Range. The only structures originally in the vicinity were the McDonald Ranch House and its ancillary buildings, which scientists used as a laboratory for testing bomb components. A base camp was constructed, and there were 425 people present on the weekend of the test.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The code name "Trinity" was assigned by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, inspired by the poetry of John Donne. The test was of an implosion-design plutonium device, informally nicknamed "The Gadget", of the same design as the Fat Man bomb later detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945. The complexity of the design required a major effort from the Los Alamos Laboratory, and concerns about whether it would work led to a decision to conduct the first nuclear test. The test was planned and directed by Kenneth Bainbridge.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Fears of a fizzle did lead to the construction of a steel containment vessel called Jumbo that could contain the plutonium, allowing it to be recovered, although ultimately this was not used in the test. A rehearsal was held on May 7, 1945, in which of high explosive spiked with radioactive isotopes were detonated. The Gadget's detonation released the explosive energy of about . Observers included Vannevar Bush, James Chadwick, James Conant, Thomas Farrell, Enrico Fermi, Hans Bethe, Richard Feynman, Leslie Groves, Robert Oppenheimer, Frank Oppenheimer, Geoffrey Taylor, Richard Tolman, Edward Teller, and John von Neumann.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The test site was declared a National Historic Landmark district in 1965, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places the following year.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The creation of nuclear weapons arose from scientific and political developments of the 1930s. The decade saw many new discoveries about the nature of atoms, including the existence of nuclear fission. The concurrent rise of fascist governments in Europe led to a fear of a German nuclear weapon project, especially among scientists who were refugees from Nazi Germany and other fascist countries. When their calculations showed that nuclear weapons were theoretically feasible, the British and United States governments supported an all-out effort to build them.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: These efforts were transferred to the authority of the U.S. Army in June 1942, and became the Manhattan Project. Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves, Jr. was appointed its director in September 1942. The weapons development portion of this project was located at the Los Alamos Laboratory in northern New Mexico, under the directorship of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The University of Chicago, Columbia University and the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley conducted other development work.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Production of the fissile isotopes uranium-235 and plutonium-239 were enormous undertakings given the technology of the 1940s, and accounted for 80% of the total costs of the project. Uranium enrichment was carried out at the Clinton Engineer Works near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Theoretically, enriching uranium was feasible through preexisting techniques, but it proved difficult to scale to industrial levels and was extremely costly. Only 0.72 percent of natural uranium was uranium-235, and it was estimated that it would take 27,000 years to produce a gram of uranium with mass spectrometers, but kilogram amounts were required.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Plutonium is a synthetic element with complicated physical, chemical and metallurgical properties. It is not found in nature in appreciable quantities. Until mid-1944, the only plutonium that had been isolated had been produced in cyclotrons in microgram amounts, whereas weapons required kilograms. In April 1944, physicist Emilio Segrè, the head of the Los Alamos Laboratory's P-5 (Radioactivity) Group, received the first sample of reactor-bred plutonium from the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge. He discovered that, in addition to the plutonium-239 isotope, it also contained significant amounts of plutonium-240. The Manhattan Project produced plutonium in nuclear reactors at the Hanford Engineer Works near Hanford, Washington.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The longer the plutonium remained irradiated inside a reactor—necessary for high yields of the metal—the greater the content of the plutonium-240 isotope, which undergoes spontaneous fission at thousands of times the rate of plutonium-239. The extra neutrons it released meant that there was an unacceptably high probability that plutonium in a gun-type fission weapon would detonate too soon after a critical mass was formed, producing a "fizzle"—a nuclear explosion many times smaller than a full explosion. This meant that the Thin Man bomb design that the laboratory had developed would not work properly.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The Laboratory turned to an alternative, albeit more technically difficult, design, an implosion-type nuclear weapon. In September 1943, mathematician John von Neumann had proposed a design in which a fissile core would be surrounded by two different high explosives that produced shock waves of different speeds. Alternating the faster- and slower-burning explosives in a carefully calculated configuration would produce a compressive wave upon their simultaneous detonation. This so-called "explosive lens" focused the shock waves inward with enough force to rapidly compress the plutonium core to several times its original density. This reduced the size of a critical mass, making it supercritical. It also activated a small neutron source at the center of the core, the initiator, which assured that the chain reaction began in earnest at the right moment. Such a complicated process required research and experimentation in engineering and hydrodynamics before a practical design could be developed. The entire Los Alamos Laboratory was reorganized in August 1944 to focus on the design of a workable implosion bomb.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The idea of testing the implosion device was brought up in discussions at Los Alamos in January 1944 and attracted enough support for Oppenheimer to approach Groves. Groves gave approval, but he had concerns. The Manhattan Project had spent a great deal of money and effort to produce the plutonium, and he wanted to know whether there would be a way to recover it. The Laboratory's Governing Board then directed Norman Ramsey to investigate how this could be done. In February 1944, Ramsey proposed a small-scale test in which the explosion was limited in size by reducing the number of generations of chain reactions, and that it take place inside a sealed containment vessel from which the plutonium could be recovered.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The means of generating such a controlled reaction were uncertain, and the data obtained would not be as useful as that from a full-scale explosion. Oppenheimer argued that the "implosion gadget must be tested in a range where the energy release is comparable with that contemplated for final use." In March 1944, he obtained Groves's tentative approval for testing a full-scale explosion inside a containment vessel, although Groves was still worried about how he would explain the loss of "a billion dollars worth" of plutonium to a Senate Committee in the event of a failure.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The exact origin of the code name "Trinity" for the test is unknown, but it is often attributed to Oppenheimer as a reference to the poetry of John Donne, which in turn references the Christian belief of the Trinity (i.e. God as one being existing as three persons). In 1962, Groves wrote to Oppenheimer about the origin of the name, asking if he had chosen it because it was a name common to rivers and peaks in the West and would not attract attention, and elicited this reply:


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: In March 1944, planning for the test was assigned to Kenneth Bainbridge, a professor of physics at Harvard University, working under explosives expert George Kistiakowsky. Bainbridge's group was known as the E-9 (Explosives Development) Group. Stanley Kershaw, formerly from the National Safety Council, was made responsible for safety. Captain Samuel P. Davalos, the assistant post engineer at Los Alamos, was placed in charge of construction. First Lieutenant Harold C. Bush became commander of the Base Camp at Trinity. Scientists William Penney, Victor Weisskopf and Philip Moon were consultants. Eventually seven subgroups were formed:


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The E-9 group was renamed the X-2 (Development, Engineering and Tests) Group in the August 1944 reorganization.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Safety and security required a remote, isolated and unpopulated area. The scientists also wanted a flat area to minimize secondary effects of the blast, and with little wind to spread radioactive fallout. Eight candidate sites were considered: the Tularosa Valley; the Jornada del Muerto Valley; the area southwest of Cuba, New Mexico, and north of Thoreau; and the lava flats of the El Malpais National Monument, all in New Mexico; the San Luis Valley near the Great Sand Dunes National Monument in Colorado; the Desert Training Area and San Nicolas Island in Southern California; and the sand bars of Padre Island, Texas.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The sites were surveyed by car and by air by Bainbridge, R. W. Henderson, Major W. A. Stevens and Major Peer de Silva. The site finally chosen, after consulting with Major General Uzal Ent, the commander of the Second Air Force on September 7, 1944, lay at the northern end of the Alamogordo Bombing Range, in Socorro County near the towns of Carrizozo and San Antonio.().


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The only structures in the vicinity were the McDonald Ranch House and its ancillary buildings, about to the southeast. Like the rest of the Alamogordo Bombing Range, it had been acquired by the government in 1942. The patented land had been condemned and grazing rights suspended. Scientists used this as a laboratory for testing bomb components. Bainbridge and Davalos drew up plans for a base camp with accommodation and facilities for 160 personnel, along with the technical infrastructure to support the test. A construction firm from Lubbock, Texas built the barracks, officers' quarters, mess hall and other basic facilities. The requirements expanded and, by July 1945, 250 people worked at the Trinity test site. On the weekend of the test, there were 425 present.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Lieutenant Bush's twelve-man MP unit arrived at the site from Los Alamos on December 30, 1944. This unit established initial security checkpoints and horse patrols. The distances around the site proved too great for the horses, so they were repurposed for polo playing, and the MPs resorted to using jeeps and trucks for transportation. Maintenance of morale among men working long hours under harsh conditions along with dangerous reptiles and insects was a challenge. Bush strove to improve the food and accommodation, and to provide organized games and nightly movies.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Throughout 1945, other personnel arrived at the Trinity Site to help prepare for the bomb test. They tried to use water out of the ranch wells, but found the water so alkaline they could not drink it. They were forced to use U.S. Navy saltwater soap and hauled drinking water in from the firehouse in Socorro. Gasoline and diesel were purchased from the Standard Oil plant there. Military and civilian construction personnel built warehouses, workshops, a magazine and commissary. The railroad siding at Pope, New Mexico, was upgraded by adding an unloading platform. Roads were built, and of telephone wire was strung. Electricity was supplied by portable generators.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Due to its proximity to the bombing range, the base camp was accidentally bombed twice in May. When the lead plane on a practice night raid accidentally knocked out the generator or otherwise doused the lights illuminating their target, they went in search of the lights, and since they had not been informed of the presence of the Trinity base camp, and it was lit, bombed it instead. The accidental bombing damaged the stables and the carpentry shop, and a small fire resulted.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Responsibility for the design of a containment vessel for an unsuccessful explosion, known as "Jumbo", was assigned to Robert W. Henderson and Roy W. Carlson of the Los Alamos Laboratory's X-2A Section. The bomb would be placed into the heart of Jumbo, and if the bomb's detonation was unsuccessful, the outer walls of Jumbo would not be breached, making it possible to recover the bomb's plutonium. Hans Bethe, Victor Weisskopf, and Joseph O. Hirschfelder, made the initial calculations, followed by a more detailed analysis by Henderson and Carlson. They drew up specifications for a steel sphere in diameter, weighing and capable of handling a pressure of . After consulting with the steel companies and the railroads, Carlson produced a scaled-back cylindrical design that would be much easier to manufacture. Carlson identified a company that normally made boilers for the Navy, Babcock & Wilcox; they had made something similar and were willing to attempt its manufacture.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: As delivered in May 1945, Jumbo was in diameter and long with walls thick, and weighed . A special train brought it from Barberton, Ohio, to the siding at Pope, where it was loaded on a large trailer and towed across the desert by crawler tractors. At the time, it was the heaviest item ever shipped by rail.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: For many of the Los Alamos scientists, Jumbo was "the physical manifestation of the lowest point in the Laboratory's hopes for the success of an implosion bomb." By the time it arrived, the reactors at Hanford produced plutonium in quantity, and Oppenheimer was confident that there would be enough for a second test. The use of Jumbo would interfere with the gathering of data on the explosion, the primary objective of the test. An explosion of more than would vaporize the steel and make it hard to measure the thermal effects. Even would send fragments flying, presenting a hazard to personnel and measuring equipment. It was therefore decided not to use it. Instead, it was hoisted up a steel tower from the explosion, where it could be used for a subsequent test. In the end, Jumbo survived the explosion, although its tower did not.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Jumbo was destroyed on April 16, 1946, when an Army ordnance team detonated eight 500 lb bombs in the bottom of the steel container. Jumbo, with its steel banding around the middle, had been designed specifically to contain the 5000 lbs of high explosive in Gadget while it was suspended in the center of the vessel. With the bombs sitting in the bottom of Jumbo, the resulting blast sent fragments flying in all directions as far as three quarters of a mile. Who authorized the destruction of Jumbo remains controversial. The rusting skeleton of Jumbo sits in the parking lot at the Trinity site on the White Sands Missile Range, where it was moved in 1979.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The development team also considered other methods of recovering active material in the event of a dud explosion. One idea was to cover it with a cone of sand. Another was to suspend the bomb in a tank of water. As with Jumbo, it was decided not to proceed with these means of containment either. The CM-10 (Chemistry and Metallurgy) group at Los Alamos also studied how the active material could be chemically recovered after a contained or failed explosion.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Because there would be only one chance to carry out the test correctly, Bainbridge decided that a rehearsal should be carried out to allow the plans and procedures to be verified, and the instrumentation to be tested and calibrated. Oppenheimer was initially skeptical but gave permission, and later agreed that it contributed to the success of the Trinity test.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: A wooden platform was constructed to the south-east of Trinity ground zero and of Composition B explosive (with the explosive power of ) were stacked on top of it. Kistiakowsky assured Bainbridge that the explosives used were not susceptible to shock. This was proven correct when some boxes fell off the elevator lifting them up to the platform. Flexible tubing was threaded through the pile of boxes of explosives. A radioactive slug from Hanford with of beta ray activity and of gamma ray activity was dissolved, and Hempelmann poured it into the tubing.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The test was scheduled for May 5 but was postponed for two days to allow for more equipment to be installed. Requests for further postponements had to be refused because they would have affected the schedule for the main test. The detonation time was set for 04:00 Mountain War Time (MWT), on May 7, but there was a 37-minute delay to allow the observation plane, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress from the 216th Army Air Forces Base Unit flown by Major Clyde "Stan" Shields, to get into position.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The fireball of the conventional explosion was visible from Alamogordo Army Air Field away, but there was little shock at the base camp away. Shields thought that the explosion looked "beautiful", but it was hardly felt at . Herbert L. Anderson practiced using a converted M4 Sherman tank lined with lead to approach the and blast crater and take a sample of dirt, although the radioactivity was low enough to allow several hours of unprotected exposure. An electrical signal of unknown origin caused the explosion to go off 0.25 seconds early, ruining experiments that required split-second timing. The piezoelectric gauges developed by Anderson's team correctly indicated an explosion of , but Luis Alvarez and Waldman's airborne condenser gauges were far less accurate.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: In addition to uncovering scientific and technological issues, the rehearsal test revealed practical concerns as well. Over 100 vehicles were used for the rehearsal test, but it was realized more would be required for the main test, and they would need better roads and repair facilities. More radios were required, and more telephone lines, as the telephone system had become overloaded. Lines needed to be buried to prevent damage by vehicles. A teletype was installed to allow better communication with Los Alamos. A town hall was built to allow for large conferences and briefings, and the mess hall had to be upgraded. Because dust thrown up by vehicles interfered with some of the instrumentation, of road was sealed at a cost of .


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The term "gadget" was a laboratory euphemism for a bomb, from which the laboratory's weapon physics division, "G Division", took its name in August 1944. At that time it did not refer specifically to the Trinity Test device as it had yet to be developed, but once it was, it became the laboratory code name. The Trinity Gadget was officially a Y-1561 device, as was the Fat Man used a few weeks later in the bombing of Nagasaki. The two were very similar, with only minor differences, the most obvious being the absence of fuzing and the external ballistic casing. The bombs were still under development, and small changes continued to be made to the Fat Man design.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: To keep the design as simple as possible, a near solid spherical core was chosen rather than a hollow one, although calculations showed that a hollow core would be more efficient in its use of plutonium. The core was compressed to prompt super-criticality by the implosion generated by the high explosive lens. This design became known as a "Christy Core" or "Christy pit" after physicist Robert F. Christy, who made the solid pit design a reality after it was initially proposed by Edward Teller. Along with the pit, the whole physics package was also informally nicknamed "Christy['s] Gadget".


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Of the several allotropes of plutonium, the metallurgists preferred the malleable δ (delta) phase. This was stabilized at room temperature by alloying it with gallium. Two equal hemispheres of plutonium-gallium alloy were plated with silver, and designated by serial numbers HS-1 and HS-2. The radioactive core generated 15 W of heat, which warmed it up to about , and the silver plating developed blisters that had to be filed down and covered with gold foil; later cores were plated with nickel instead. The Trinity core consisted of just these two hemispheres. Later cores also included a ring with a triangular cross-section to prevent jets forming in the gap between them.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: A trial assembly of the Gadget without the active components or explosive lenses was carried out by the bomb assembly team headed by Norris Bradbury at Los Alamos on July 3. It was driven to Trinity and back. A set of explosive lenses arrived on July 7, followed by a second set on July 10. Each was examined by Bradbury and Kistiakowsky, and the best ones were selected for use. The remainder were handed over to Edward Creutz, who conducted a test detonation at Pajarito Canyon near Los Alamos without nuclear material. This test brought bad news: magnetic measurements of the simultaneity of the implosion seemed to indicate that the Trinity test would fail. Bethe worked through the night to assess the results and reported that they were consistent with a perfect explosion.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Assembly of the nuclear capsule began on July 13 at the McDonald Ranch House, where the master bedroom had been turned into a clean room. The polonium-beryllium "Urchin" initiator was assembled, and Louis Slotin placed it inside the two hemispheres of the plutonium core. Cyril Smith then placed the core in the natural uranium tamper plug, or "slug". Air gaps were filled with gold foil, and the two halves of the plug were held together with uranium washers and screws which fit smoothly into the domed ends of the plug. The completed capsule was then driven to the base of the tower.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: At the tower, a temporary eyebolt was screwed into the capsule and a chain hoist was used to lower the capsule into the gadget. As the capsule entered the hole in the uranium tamper, it stuck. Robert Bacher realized that the heat from the plutonium core had caused the capsule to expand, while the explosives assembly with the tamper had cooled during the night in the desert. By leaving the capsule in contact with the tamper, the temperatures equalized and, in a few minutes, the capsule had slipped completely into the tamper. The eyebolt was then removed from the capsule and replaced with a threaded uranium plug, a boron disk was placed on top of the capsule, an aluminum plug was screwed into the hole in the pusher, and the two remaining high explosive lenses were installed. Finally, the upper Dural polar cap was bolted into place. Assembly was completed at about 16:45 on July 13.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: The Gadget was hoisted to the top of a steel tower. The height would give a better indication of how the weapon would behave when dropped from a bomber, as detonation in the air would maximize the amount of energy applied directly to the target (as the explosion expanded in a spherical shape) and would generate less nuclear fallout. The tower stood on four legs that went into the ground, with concrete footings. Atop it was an oak platform, and a shack made of corrugated iron that was open on the western side. The Gadget was hauled up with an electric winch. A truckload of mattresses was placed underneath in case the cable broke and the Gadget fell. The seven-man arming party, consisting of Bainbridge, Kistiakowsky, Joseph McKibben and four soldiers including Lieutenant Bush, drove out to the tower to perform the final arming shortly after 22:00 on July 15.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: In the final two weeks before the test, some 250 personnel from Los Alamos were at work at the Trinity site, and Lieutenant Bush's command had ballooned to 125 men guarding and maintaining the base camp. Another 160 men under Major T.O. Palmer were stationed outside the area with vehicles to evacuate the civilian population in the surrounding region should that prove necessary. They had enough vehicles to move 450 people to safety and had food and supplies to last them for two days. Arrangements were made for Alamogordo Army Air Field to provide accommodation. Groves had warned the Governor of New Mexico, John J. Dempsey, that martial law might have to be declared in the southwestern part of the state.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Shelters were established due north, west, and south of the tower, known as N-10,000, W-10,000 and S-10,000. Each had its own shelter chief: Robert Wilson at N-10,000, John Manley at W-10,000 and Frank Oppenheimer at S-10,000. Many other observers were around away, and some others were scattered at different distances, some in more informal situations. Richard Feynman claimed to be the only person to see the explosion without the goggles provided, relying on a truck windshield to screen out harmful ultraviolet wavelengths.


title: Trinity (nuclear test)

text: Bainbridge asked Groves to keep his VIP list down to just ten. He chose himself, Oppenheimer, Richard Tolman, Vannevar Bush, James Conant, Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell, Charles Lauritsen, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Sir Geoffrey Taylor, and Sir James Chadwick. The VIPs viewed the test from Compania Hill, about northwest of the tower. The observers set up a betting pool on the results of the test. Edward Teller was the most optimistic, predicting . He wore gloves to protect his hands, and sunglasses underneath the welding goggles that the government had supplied everyone with. Teller was also one of the few scientists to actually watch the test (with eye protection), instead of following orders to lie on the ground with his back turned. He also brought suntan lotion, which he shared with the others.