This Week in History - The Week of October 31st

October 30, 1961, the world's biggest nuclear weapon, the Tsar bomb, was dropped by the

Soviet Union on an arctic island during the cold war. The mushroom cloud was 37 miles high. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs dropped in WW2 are only a fraction of the Tsar Bomb.

On November 1st, 1755, Lisbon, a city in Portugal was hit by a devastating earthquake. Around 30,000-50,000 people were killed. After an hour, a tsunami hit the city, starting fires and destroying buildings instantly. To this day, the city of Lisbon is still hit by earthquakes.

On November 3rd, 1957, Sputnik II was launched by the Soviet Union, carrying a dog named Laika into space. Laika was the first living creature in space. Unfortunately, Laika died on the 4th orbit due to overheating caused by a malfunction. Sputnik II re-entered earth's atmosphere 162 days later.