On September 22, 1979, an aging American satellite detected the unmistakable double-flash signature of a nuclear explosion over the South Atlantic Ocean—except no country ever admitted to detonating a weapon. The Vela Incident remains one of the Cold War's most perplexing mysteries, with the CIA, military intelligence, and White House unable to agree whether it was a clandestine nuclear test (possibly by Israel and South Africa), a natural phenomenon, or something else entirely. Four decades later, despite declassified documents and investigations, we still don't know who—if anyone—set off a nuclear weapon and got away with it, while the satellite that witnessed the event continues to orbit Earth as a dead, silent testament to one of history's perfect unsolved cases.
Let’s listen in as Nathaniel Sheppard narrates this tale on my behalf, shall we?
-Daniel P. Douglas
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