Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-06-04
Warhead Falls
Into Pacific,
Fate Uncertain
Hieh-AItitude Shot
Delayed Again as
Thor MoIfunctions

A nuclear warhead-intact or
as debriS-fell into 100 feet Of
water off Johnston Island to-
day when a missile carrying it
aloft was itself exploded less
than two minutes before the
bomb was to be detonated.
A Joint Task Force 8 spokes-
man said he did not know the
condition Of the warhead, in
tended as the first high-alti-
tude nuclear device to be ex-
ploded in the United States
test series at Johnston Island.
The spokesman had no in
formation on whether the de-
vice itself was destroyed when
the big Thor intercontinental
ballistic missile was deliber-
ately blasted because of a mall
function in the tracking sys-
tenn.
COrrOsiOn a Factor
The spokesman was unable
to say whether salt water corro-
sion could set off the warhead
if it lies on Pacific Ocean bot
tom over an extended period of
time. Nor coul he say whether
the device would give off radio
activity.
Those are scientific ques-
tions," he said. You'll have to
get the answers from Washing
ton"
The Coast Guard said it
would not declare the area
around the aborted missile
dangerous to navigation.
The unsuccessful attempt to
detonate the nuclear device
some 40 miles above the earth
was made at las pm. Hawaii
Standard Time (5:45 am,
E. D. To.
CountdOwn MOnitOred
!. AS the Thor neared the fir
|, ing altitude - believed to be
80 to 40 miles-a Joint Task
Force 8 safety officer ordered
the rocket destroyed. The an
nouncement said only that the
TRACKING system malfunctioned.
Radios monitoring the count
down picked up the Thor
launch. Then. with one minute
and 40 seconds left, voice was
heard shouting. Negative. neg
alive, negative" There was no
further word.
The Atomic Energy Commits
sion and the Defense Depart
ment said earlier the debris fell
into the previously designated
safety zone and there was no
danger to personnel on john
son Island or elsewhere in the
mid-Pacific area.
Thousands of Hawaii resi-
dents retired after watching
the horizon during two hours
of lays for a glimpse of the
sub-megaton blast. A megaton
is equal to one million tons Of
TINT.
The failure followed two "a
hour postponements of the ex-
plosion-the first of three oil
four in the current Pacific
series. The postponementS were
not officially explained, but re-
ports in Honolulu blamed
cloudy weather and possible
technical difficulties.
New Date Uncertain
Joint Task Force 8 had no
word on when another shot
will be attempted. They want
to analyze this one before they
say anything further" a spokes-
man said in Honolulu.
The United States went
ahead with the shot despite a
Soviet government charge from
Moscow yesterday that the test
would carry the nuclear arms
race into outer space"
The Moscow complaint said
the high-altitude blast could
disrupt communications. en-
danger future astronaut flights
and change the weather"
A spokesman for Joint Task
Force 8 said, Let them COM
plain. They know more about
these tests than we do. That's
what we're trying to find out"
disappointment was appar-
ent among task force officials
watching from Honolulu. John
ston Island is I'll miles south
west of Hawaii but the explo-
sion was expected to give off
flash visible here.
Thousands of Hawaiians
stayed awake to watch for the
blast.
The Federal Aviation Agency
cleared the test zone for traf-
fic five minutes after the mis-
sile was destroyed. 1t was an
ticipated that the blast would
have BACKED out some radio
communication in the area for
up to 81 hours.