Nuclear testing Memes

During the 1957 Pascal-B nuclear test, a 900kg steel cap covering a test shaft was blasted off at an estimated 66 km/s (5x escape velocity). While historians calmly credit Sputnik as humanity's first space object, nuclear physicists are having an existential crisis knowing a random manhole cover might have been yeeted into interstellar space years earlier. The cover was never found—probably because it's somewhere between here and Alpha Centauri by now. Just another day in Cold War physics: turning infrastructure into accidental spacecraft since 1957.

History books: "Sputnik 1 was the first object in space." Nuclear physicist at a conference: "Actually, during the 1957 Pascal-B underground nuclear test, a 900kg steel manhole cover was likely launched at six times escape velocity, making it both the first human object in space and the fastest man-made object ever. The camera only caught a single frame of it before it vanished." The manhole cover was never found. Somewhere in the galaxy, an alien civilization is probably studying a mysterious metal disc with "Property of US Government" stamped on it.