Trivia / The Space Children

Life Imitates Art: The premise of the fictional Thunderer — launching a nuclear missile into orbit so it could be quickly brought down on any target — became Cold War reality in less than 10 years. The USSR built a handful of missiles using the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, or FOBS. They hoped the missiles' exotic trajectories could slip a nuke past US detection systems with minimal warning. FOBS missiles had drawbacks. Their warheads had to be lighter than conventional ICBMs, and they were politically provocative — they would only be useful in a first strike scenario, and that ran contrary to Soviet nuclear strategy. When better US radar technology in the 80s eliminated the advantage of surprise FOBS offered, the USSR abandoned the technology (as part of SALT II).