First man made object in orbit

I can remember hearing a story once that the first man made object to achieve orbit wasnt Sputnik, it was a manhole cover.

The story goes that in the early fifties the US started testing nuclear weapons underground. Drill a deep hole and stick a bomb at the bottom. The holes were sealed with a solid steel plate about 2" thick and 3ft across. When the fuse is lit the cover gets blown off by an enormous pressure wave.

Has anyone heard this before and would there be sufficent pressure to launch said cover into orbit.

As crazy as it sounds...you story might have some truth...

Here ya go....everyone should check it out

www.google.com... hole

Nothing on Snopes.com about it.

[edit on 10/7/2005 by SportyMB]

Thanks dude. Thats where I originally heard the story.

I could see some object being shot into space then either continuing on away from the Earth or falling back, but being shot accidently into a stable orbit seems highly unlikely to me.

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Excellent Urban Legend material!!

the 'lid' would have to achieve a velocity of ~17,000 MPH, excape velocity

the early atomic bombs were only in the kilo-ton range. not enough power?

the 'lid' would need to launch & be thrusted upwards in a ?perpendicular? position....then become reoriented to an 'edge-wise' position for a maxium
trajectory speed...a seemingly impossible occurrance.

however, it was once thought possible that a mega-volcanic-explosion,
such as the historical Krakatoa event, launched rocks into space...
google up friend

If they really did that, wouldn’t the "lid" melt with the temperature?

An atomic bomb is not a "super-soaker".