Operation Morning Light

The Kosmos 954 was an active radar satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1977.

It was part of a series of reconnaissance satellites meant to observe ocean traffic, including surface vessels and nuclear submarines.

In mid-December, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) noticed the satellite making erratic manoeuvres and changing altitude. All the while, its Soviet operators struggled to control their failing spacecraft.

On January 24, 1978, at 11:53 a.m. GMT, the satellite reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, and scattered radioactive debris over northern Canada, prompting an extensive cleanup operation.

At first, the Soviet Union claimed that during re-entry the satellite had been completely destroyed. However, later searches showed debris from the satellite had been deposited on Canadian territory, including portions of the Northwest Territories (some of which is now Nunavut), Alberta and Saskatchewan. They appeared along a 600-kilometre (370 miles) path from Great Slave Lake to Baker Lake.

The joint Canadian-American team dubbed this effort to recover radioactive material from the satellite Operation Morning Light. They swept the area by foot and air, from January 24 to October 15, 1978. They ultimately recovered 12 larger pieces of the satellite. All but two fragments recovered were radioactive.

Under the terms of the 1972 Space Liability Convention, a state which launches an object into space is liable for damages caused by that object. For the recovery efforts, the Canadian government billed the Soviet Union $6,041,174.70 for actual expenses and additional compensation for future unpredicted expenses; the U.S.S.R. eventually paid C$3 million.

Richard Mingus worked at the U.S. Department of Energy’s emergency command center in Las Vegas on January 24, 1978. His job was fielding calls at the command center, and to prevent Americans from panicking. All that the agency would report was that a “Space Aged Difficulty“ had occurred. They said nothing about a nuclear-powered satellite with potential lethal fallout.

On January 28, 1978, an episode of Saturday Night Live featured a running gag about the radioactive debris from the crashed satellite. It resulted in creating giant, mutant lobsters heading for the U.S. east coast. It concluded with them invading the studio at the show’s end.

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