American intelligence officials try to take the differences into account in estimating the size of Soviet tests.
As with earlier Soviet tests, the American space capsule carried a test dummy.
In 1954, the Totskoye range was the site of the Soviet nuclear tests.
Possony was one of the analysts who predicted the date of the first Soviet nuclear test.
"We hope that in the future we will be able to measure a Soviet test."
Western confidence in 1949 was shaken by both the Soviet atomic test and the establishment of communist China.
The last recorded Soviet test was July 25, 1985.
Soviet tests often exceed this limit, and the Russians have resisted such extensive verification measures.
Thinking changed dramatically in 1949 with the Soviet test of their first atom bomb.
During the Cold War, it was used to house special equipment to monitor Soviet nuclear tests.