...
At 11 a.m., a Tu-95 bomber took off from the Kola Peninsula base and flew over New Ground Island. Its body was silvery white, glistening under the sunlight.
Colonel Marimuyev, the pilot, peered through the window at the D-2 test site below—the plane was currently at an altitude of 11,000 meters, with the island below resembling a long, crawling reptile in the midst of the sea. Its head was the symbol of white frost, its tail still retained a hint of dark green, and D-2 was set right at the boundary between white and green.
"The weather is good; we should be able to witness the entire explosion process," said Ivanovich, the co-pilot.
"Let the other plane take care of observation," the colonel replied, turning to look behind—there was another Tu-16 following them, tasked mainly with observing the explosion, collecting the blast wind, and recording the entire process of the test. "This isn't something to watch; I only hope to get as far away as possible."
