Made in USSR: Freshly-Declassified Pictures of Most Powerful Thermonuclear Bomb Test in History

The AN602 nuclear bomb, codenamed Tsar Bomba, went down in history as the most powerful bomb, having a blast yield of 50 megatons of TNT.

It was tested over the Sukhoy Nos cape on Novaya Zemlya's Severny Island in Russia's north at an altitude of 4,000 metres.

Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear energy corporation, has unveiled previously classified photos of the test, which Sputnik welcomes you to have a look at in our photo gallery.

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A constructor works on the so-called Tsar Bomba at an unknown location in the USSR in this still image from previously classified footage taken in October 1961 and released by Russia’s Rosatom state atomic energy corporation.

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A plane is seen carrying the so-called Tsar Bomba before dropping it in a test over the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the USSR in this still image from previously classified footage taken in October 1961 and released by Russia’s Rosatom state atomic energy corporation.

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The so-called Tsar Bomba falling after being dropped from a plane in a test over the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the USSR in this still image from previously classified footage taken in October 1961 and released by Russia’s Rosatom state atomic energy corporation.

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A plane drops the so-called Tsar Bomba in a test over the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the USSR in this still image from previously classified footage taken in October 1961 and released by Russia’s Rosatom state atomic energy corporation.

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A view shows the fireball after the so-called Tsar Bomba was detonated in a test over the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the USSR in this still image from previously classified footage taken in October 1961 and released by Russia’s Rosatom state atomic energy corporation.

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A cloud of smoke and dust rises into the sky after the so-called Tsar Bomba was detonated in a test over the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the USSR in this still image from previously classified footage taken in October 1961 and released by Russia’s Rosatom state atomic energy corporation.

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A mushroom cloud rises after the so-called Tsar Bomba was detonated in a test over the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the USSR in this still image from previously classified footage taken in October 1961 and released by Russia’s Rosatom state atomic energy corporation.