Never-before-seen 40-year-old pictures of French atomic bomb tests have surfaced on the internet and they are simultaneously beautiful and terrifying. The epitome of historical human achievement and wanton destruction combined in one split-second.

These are four scanned pictures of hardcopies I possess of the French nuclear test codenamed Canopus, which was fired on 24th August 1968 in the Fangataufa Atoll. The French army had those pictures taken on site.

Full-size links: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Godzilla (Gino)

Le Godzilla!!!

This reminds me of the Far Side cartoon where aliens are sitting on another planet (the moon?) watching H-bombs go off on Earth. While watching they say "ooh!" as if watching fireworks.

2.6Mt....yikes!

Paradise incinerated

still affraid of that huh,
why?

Blast from the past.

A couple of great desktop pictures there.

Many people are very afraid of the power of "The Bomb" but so few are Afraid of the Power of God. The size off the universe is like a grain of sand to HIM.

God is da bomb baby!

Mesdames et messieurs, je suis désolé, je ne veux pas "ai dédoublé des poils," mais l'académie française insiste sur le fait que toutes les créatures monstrueuses engendrées sur l'atoll de Fangataufa désigné sous le nom du "Le Grand Zilla de Dieu"

Ladies and gentle-mon, I'm sorry, I do not mean to "split ze hairz" but ze Academie Francaise insists zat all ze monstrous creatures zat may be spawned on ze atoll Fangatuafa be called by ze name "Le Grand Zilla de Dieu."

Génial!