query: What was the first spacecraft to land on Mars?

title: Exploration of Mars

text: The first to contact the surface were two Soviet probes: Mars 2 lander on November 27 and Mars 3 lander on December 2, 1971—Mars 2 failed during descent and Mars 3 about twenty seconds after the first Martian soft landing.[16] Mars 6 failed during descent but did return some corrupted atmospheric data in 1974. [17] The 1975 NASA launches of the Viking program consisted of two orbiters, each with a lander that successfully soft landed in 1976. Viking 1 remained operational for six years, Viking 2 for three. The Viking landers relayed the first color panoramas of Mars.[18]

title: Mars landing

text: "Phoenix" launched on August 4, 2007, and touched down on the northern polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008. It is famous for having been successfully photographed while landing, since this was the first time one spacecraft captured the landing of another spacecraft onto a planetary body (the Moon not being a planet, but a satellite).

title: Mars program

text: The Mars 4M spacecraft; Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions consisted of identical spacecraft, each with an orbiter and an attached lander, which became the first spacecraft to reach the surface of Mars.

title: Mars 3

text: Mars 3 was an unmanned space probe of the Soviet Mars program which spanned the years between 1960 and 1973. Mars 3 was launched May 28, 1971, nine days after its twin spacecraft Mars 2. The probes were identical robotic spacecraft launched by Proton-K rockets with a Blok D upper stage, each consisting of an orbiter and an attached lander. After the Mars 2 lander crashed on the martian surface, Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to attain soft landing on Mars on 2 December 1971. It failed shortly after landing.The type of Orbiter was the Variant M-71 of the Bus/Obiter 4M-V. The primary purpose of the orbiter was to study the topography of the surface; analyze its soil composition; measure various properties of the atmosphere; monitor "solar radiation, the solar wind, and the interplanetary and martian magnetic fields". In addition, it served as a "communications relay to send signals from the lander to Earth".

title: Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander

text: After the cancellation of the mission, the Mars Surveyor 2001 spacecraft was put in storage. Lockheed Martin, which built the lander, had kept the nearly complete lander in an environmentally controlled clean room from 2001. The spacecraft was offered as government furnished property to investigators proposing missions to the Mars Scout Program, and the spacecraft was used as the lander on the "Phoenix" mission; it is currently on Mars in the north polar region. In addition to using the 2001 Surveyor Lander, three of the experiments flown on the "Phoenix" mission are instruments that were originally built for the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander:Note a MARDI camera was eventually used during the Curiosity rover landing, and returned landing images to Earth, also it was used on the surface of Mars

title: List of artificial objects on Mars

text: In this listing, it is implied that each mission left debris according to its design. For example, the "Schiaparelli" EDM lander likely exploded on impact, creating an unknown number of fragments at one location. At another location, there may be a lower heat shield, and at another location, a parachute and upper heat shield. Another example is the counterweights ejected by MSL during its descent. In some cases, the nature and location of this additional debris has been determined and, in other cases, even the location of the main spacecraft has remained unknown. The identification of "Beagle 2" after 11 years is one of the greatest breakthroughs yet, since prior to that, it could not be confirmed what had happened. Spacecraft that have not been precisely located include "Mars 2", "Mars 3", "Mars 6", Mars Polar Lander, and the two Deep Space 2 probes.Several landing sites have been named, either the spacecraft itself or the landing site:

title: Airbag

text: The first use of airbags for landing were Luna 9 and Luna 13, which landed on the Moon in 1966 and returned panoramic images. As with later missions, these would use the airbags to bounce along the surface, absorbing landing energy. The Mars Pathfinder lander employed an innovative airbag landing system, supplemented with aerobraking, parachute, and solid rocket landing thrusters. This prototype successfully tested the concept, and the two Mars Exploration Rover Mission landers employed similar landing systems. The Beagle 2 Mars lander also tried to use airbags for landing, the landing was successful and the lander touched down safely, but several of the spacecraft's solar panels failed to deploy, thereby disabling the spacecraft.

title: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

text: The Electra communications package is a UHF software-defined radio (SDR) that provides a flexible platform for evolving relay capabilities. It is designed to communicate with other spacecraft as they approach, land, and operate on Mars. In addition to protocol controlled inter-spacecraft data links of 1 kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s, Electra also provides Doppler data collection, open loop recording and a highly accurate timing service based on a 5e−13 USO. Doppler information for approaching vehicles can be used for final descent targeting or descent and landing trajectory recreation. Doppler information on landed vehicles will also enable scientists to accurately determine the surface location of Mars landers and rovers. The two Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft currently on Mars utilize an earlier generation UHF relay radio providing similar functions through the Mars Odyssey orbiter. The Electra radio has proven its functionality by relaying information to and from the MER spacecraft, "Phoenix" Mars lander and "Curiosity" Rover.

title: Mars orbit rendezvous

text: Mars orbit rendezvous (MOR) is a space travel concept where two spacecraft meet up and/or dock in Mars orbit. For example, one vehicle takes off from Mars, such as a Martian ascent stage, and does a rendezvous in Mars orbit with another spacecraft. Applied to a Mars sample return or manned mission to Mars, it allows much less weight to be sent to the surface and back into orbit, because the fuel needed to travel back to Earth is not landed on the planet. It has also been proposed for unmanned Mars sample return plans.

title: Viking 1

text: Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft (along with "Viking 2") sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. On July 20, 1976, it became the second spacecraft to soft-land on Mars, and the first soft lander to successfully perform its mission. (The first spacecraft to soft-land on Mars was the Soviet Union's Mars 3 on December 2, 1971, which stopped transmitting after 14.5 seconds.) "Viking 1" held the record for the longest Mars surface mission of days (over 6¼ years) or Martian solar days, until that record was broken by "Opportunity" on May 19, 2010.

title: Exploration of Mars

text: The USSR intended to have the first artificial satellite of Mars beating the planned American Mariner 8 and Mariner 9 Mars orbiters. In May 1971, one day after Mariner 8 malfunctioned at launch and failed to reach orbit, Cosmos 419 (Mars 1971C), a heavy probe of the Soviet Mars program M-71, also failed to launch. This spacecraft was designed as an orbiter only, while the next two probes of project M-71, Mars 2 and Mars 3, were multipurpose combinations of an orbiter and a lander with small skis-walking rovers that would be the first planet rovers outside the Moon. They were successfully launched in mid-May 1971 and reached Mars about seven months later. On November 27, 1971 the lander of Mars 2 crash-landed due to an on-board computer malfunction and became the first man-made object to reach the surface of Mars. On 2 December 1971, the Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing, but its transmission was interrupted after 14.5 seconds.[45]

title: Beagle 2

text: The spacecraft was successfully deployed from the "Mars Express" on 19 December 2003 and was scheduled to land on the surface of Mars on 25 December; however, no contact was received at the expected time of landing on Mars. ESA declared the mission lost in February 2004, after numerous attempts to contact the spacecraft were made.

title: SpaceX Mars transportation infrastructure

text: The key element of the infrastructure is the BFR, a two-stage rocket where the upper stage is also used as spacecraft to reach Mars and to return to Earth. To achieve a large payload, the spacecraft first enters Earth orbit, where it is refuelled before it departs to Mars. After landing on Mars, the spacecraft is loaded with locally produced fuel to return to Earth. The expected payload of BFR is to Mars.

title: Mars flyby

text: The spacecraft they live in on the journey to Mars does the flyby, but the crew separates and goes into a lander. The Excursion module's ascent stage must rejoin the main spacecraft before it gets too far away. An advantage is that the resources needed for Earth return don't have to enter and leave Mars orbit, but the ascent stage has to perform space rendezvous in solar orbit and the time on Mars is constrained by the need to this. Mars cyclers orbit the Sun in such a way as to pass by Mars and the Earth on regular intervals, performing Mars flybys on regular intervals. The crews would live on the stations during the interplanetary voyages. The concept for Flyby Excursion Landing Module is that a lander and flyby would separate in solar orbit, the lander would accelerate to get to Mars first, then land on Mars meanwhile the other segment does a Mars flyby, then the lander takes off and rendezvous with the flyby segment transferring the crew over. (see also Mars Excursion Module (MEM))

title: Farah Alibay

text: Farah Alibay is based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and is a Payload Systems Engineer on the "InSight" mission, a robotic lander spacecraft designed to study the interior of the planet Mars which lifted off to Mars in May 2018. Before the launch, Farah was responsible for the proper integration and testing of all the instruments on the spacecraft. While the mission waited for the spacecraft to land on the surface of Mars, Farah helped the teams prepare for operations and tested the detector equipment. To celebrate the landing on Mars in November 2018, she had her hair dyed red to match Mars and the InSight logo.

title: Mars landing

text:
A Mars landing is a landing of a spacecraft on the surface of Mars. Of multiple attempted Mars landings by robotic, unmanned spacecraft, eight have been successful. There have also been studies for a possible human mission to Mars, including a landing, but none have been attempted.
The most recent landing took place on November 26th, 2018 by the NASA probe InSight.

text: In 2016, SpaceX announced plans to fly its earliest missions to Mars using its Falcon Heavy launch vehicle prior to the completion, and first launch, of any ITS vehicle. Later missions utilizing this technology—the "ITS launch vehicle" and "Interplanetary Spaceship" with on-orbit propellant refill via "ITS tanker"—were to begin no earlier than 2022. At the time, the company was planning for launches of research spacecraft to Mars using Falcon Heavy launch vehicles and specialized modified Dragon spacecraft, called "Red Dragon". Due to planetary alignment in the inner Solar System, Mars launches are typically limited to a window of approximately every 26 months. As announced in June 2016, the first launch was planned for Spring 2018, with an announced intent to launch again in every Mars launch window thereafter. In February 2017, however, the first launch to Mars was pushed back to 2020, and in July 2017, SpaceX announced it would not be using a propulsively-landed "Red Dragon" spacecraft at all for the early missions, as had been previously announced.

title: Mars landing

text: NASA's "Mars Pathfinder" spacecraft, launched one month after Global Surveyor, landed on July 4, 1997. Its landing site was an ancient flood plain in Mars' northern hemisphere called Ares Vallis, which is among the rockiest parts of Mars. It carried a tiny remote-controlled rover called Sojourner, which was the first acting Mars rover that traveled a few meters around the landing site, exploring the conditions and sampling rocks around it. Newspapers around the world carried images of the lander dispatching the rover to explore the surface of Mars in a way never achieved before.

title: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

text: A number of American space exploration pioneers were launched from CCAFS, including the first U.S. Earth satellite in 1958, first U.S. astronaut (1961), first U.S. astronaut in orbit (1962), first two-man U.S. spacecraft (1965), first U.S. unmanned lunar landing (1966), and first three-man U.S. spacecraft (1968). It was also the launch site for all of the first spacecraft to (separately) fly past each of the planets in the Solar System (1962–1977), the first spacecraft to orbit Mars (1971) and roam its surface (1996), the first American spacecraft to orbit and land on Venus (1978), the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn (2004), and to orbit Mercury (2011), and the first spacecraft to leave the Solar System (1977). Portions of the base have been designated a National Historic Landmark for their association with the early years of the American space program.

title: Exploration of Mars

text: The lander's fate remained a mystery until it was located intact on the surface of Mars in a series of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.[66][67] The images suggest that two of the spacecraft's four solar panels failed to deploy, blocking the spacecraft's communications antenna. Beagle 2 is the first British and first European probe to achieve a soft landing on Mars.

title: Flyby (spaceflight)

text: The Orion EM-2 mission has a mission design that would include a lunar flyby.In regards to Mars flybys, a related concept is a Mars flyby rendezvous, where a spacecraft does not enter orbit but rendezvous before or after a flyby of the planet with another spacecraft. Mars flyby rendezvous was evaluated at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in the 1960s. At that time NASA developed designs for a combination of a Mars lander, short-stay surface habitat, and ascent vehicle called a Mars Excursion Module (MEM); the ascent stage performed the rendezvous with another spacecraft that did a flyby of Mars without entering orbit or landing. Compared to MOR, a flyby rendezvous means one spacecraft does not have to orbit Mars, so the resources needed on a return journey to Earth are not taken in and out of Mars orbit for example. (See also Mars cycler)

title: Exploration of Mars

text: The Viking program launched Viking 1 and Viking 2 spacecraft to Mars in 1975; The program consisted of two orbiters and two landers – these were the first two spacecraft to successfully land and operate on Mars.

title: Colonization of Mars

text: Mars has a surface gravity 0.38 times that of Earth, and the density of its atmosphere is about 0.6% of that on Earth. The relatively strong gravity and the presence of aerodynamic effects make it difficult to land heavy, crewed spacecraft with thrusters only, as was done with the Apollo Moon landings, yet the atmosphere is too thin for aerodynamic effects to be of much help in aerobraking and landing a large vehicle. Landing piloted missions on Mars would require braking and landing systems different from anything used to land crewed spacecraft on the Moon or robotic missions on Mars.

title: Mars Geyser Hopper

text: The mission was projected to cost $350 million USD and to meet a cost cap of no more than $425 million USD, not including the launch cost. It must have a March 1, 2016 launch date requirement (or no later than December 31, 2016) to land during the Mars southern summer. In order to reduce the cost and minimize risk, the spacecraft concept is based on a previous spacecraft design, the Mars Phoenix lander, which has a demonstrated flight heritage that incorporates soft landing capability and incorporates a restartable rocket propulsion system, suitable to be repurposed for this mission requirements. The spacecraft would land at a target landing area near the south pole of Mars, where geysers exist over a stretch of several hundred kilometers with densities of at least one geyser every and have the ability to "hop" at least twice from its landed location after a summertime landing to reposition itself close to a geyser site, and wait through the winter until the first sunlight of spring to witness first-hand the Martian geyser phenomenon and investigate the debris pattern and channel.

text: Elon Musk and SpaceX have proposed the development of Mars transportation infrastructure in order to facilitate the eventual colonization of Mars. The design includes fully reusable launch vehicles, human-rated spacecraft, on-orbit propellant tankers, rapid-turnaround launch/landing mounts, and local production of rocket fuel on Mars via in situ resource utilization (ISRU). SpaceX's aspirational goal is to land the first humans on Mars by 2024.

title: Mars flyby

text: A Mars flyby is a movement of spacecraft passing in the vicinity of the planet Mars, but not entering orbit or landing on it. Unmanned space probes have used this method to collect data on Mars, as opposed to orbiting or landing. A spacecraft designed for a flyby is also known as a "flyby bus" or "flyby spacecraft".

title: Exploration of Mars

text: Mars Pathfinder was a U.S. spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars on July 4, 1997. It consisted of a lander and a small 10.6 kilograms (23lb) wheeled robotic rover named Sojourner, which was the first rover to operate on the surface of Mars.[60][61] In addition to scientific objectives, the Mars Pathfinder mission was also a "proof-of-concept" for various technologies, such as an airbag landing system and automated obstacle avoidance, both later exploited by the Mars Exploration Rovers.[60]

title: Mars landing

text: Years earlier, in 1970 Soviet Union began the design of Mars 4NM and Mars 5NM missions with superheavy unmanned Martian spacecraft. First was Marsokhod with planned date of start in 1973 and second was Mars sample return mission planned for 1975. Both spacecraft were intended to be launched on the N1 superrocket, but this rocket never flew successfully and the Mars 4NM and Mars 5NM projects were cancelled.

title: Human mission to Mars

text: In 2012, a conceptual architecture was published by Boeing, United Launch Alliance, and RAL Space in England, laying out a possible design for a crewed Mars mission. Components of the architecture include various spacecraft for the Earth-to-Mars journey, landing, and surface stay as well as return. Some features include several uncrewed cargo landers assembled into a base on the surface of Mars. The crew would land at this base in the "Mars Personnel Lander", which could also take them back into Mars orbit. The design for the crewed interplanetary spacecraft included artificial gravity and an artificial magnetic field for radiation protection. Overall, the architecture was modular and to allow for incremental R&D.

title: Mars Express

text: The "Beagle 2" lander objectives were to characterize the landing site geology, mineralogy, and geochemistry, the physical properties of the atmosphere and surface layers, collect data on Martian meteorology and climatology, and search for possible signatures of life. However, the landing attempt was unsuccessful and the lander was declared lost. A Commission of Inquiry on "Beagle 2" identified several possible causes, including airbag problems, severe shocks to the lander's electronics which had not been simulated adequately before launch, and problems with parts of the landing system colliding; but was unable to reach any firm conclusions. The spacecraft's fate remained a mystery until it was announced in January 2015 that NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, using HiRISE, had found the probe intact on the surface of Mars. It was then determined that an error had prevented two of the spacecraft's four solar panels from deploying, blocking the spacecraft's communications. Beagle 2 was the first British and first European probe to achieve a landing on Mars.

title: Mars 2MV-3 No.1

text: Mars 2MV-3 No.1 also known as Sputnik 24 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft, which was launched in 1962 as part of the Mars program, and was intended to land on the surface of Mars. Due to a problem with the rocket which launched it, it did not depart low Earth orbit, and it decayed several days later. It was the only Mars 2MV-3 spacecraft to be launched.


query: When did Li Deyu serve as chancellor to the Tang Dynasty?

title: Li Jue (Tang dynasty)

text: Li Jue (李珏 or 李玨) (784?-852?[1]), courtesy name Daijia (待價), formally Duke Zhenmu of Zanhuang (贊皇貞穆公), was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Wenzong and (briefly) Emperor Wenzong's brother Emperor Wuzong. He was considered one of the leaders of the Niu Faction in the Niu-Li Factional Struggles.

title: Li Youdao

text: Despite Li's high status, little is firmly established about his career except for the time that he served as chancellor—as, unusual for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either the "Old Book of Tang" or the "New Book of Tang". It is known that his clan was a prominent one, from what was one point Zhao Commandery (趙郡, roughly modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), that traced its ancestry all the way back to the great Warring States period Zhao general Li Mu. Li Youdao's ancestors later served as officials through Qin Dynasty, Han Dynasty, Cao Wei, Jin Dynasty (265-420), Former Yan and/or Later Yan, Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Sui Dynasty, and Tang Dynasty. His father Li Shushen (李叔慎) served as a deputy minister during Tang.

title: Quan Deyu

text: Quan Deyu (; 759 – September 30, 818), courtesy name Zaizhi (載之), formally Duke Wen of Fufeng (扶風文公), was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Xianzong.

title: Emperor Wenzong of Tang

text: Also in 832, in the aftermaths of the Xidamou incident, with popular sentiment turning against Niu Sengru, Niu resigned his chancellor position to become the military governor of Wuchang Circuit (武昌, headquartered in modern Wuhan, Hubei), and Li Deyu was recalled to Chang'an, becoming chancellor in 833. Li Deyu used the opportunity to attack Li Zongmin's associates for factionalism, and many were demoted. Li Zongmin himself was soon sent out of Chang'an to serve as the military governor of Shannan West Circuit (山南西道, headquartered in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi).

title: Li Deyu

text: During the reign of Emperor Xianzong, Li Jifu became chancellor, and it was said that because Li Deyu wanted to avoid appearance of impropriety, he did not serve at the office of the imperial censors or one of the three main bureaus of the imperial government. Rather, he served on the staff of various regional governors. In 816, after the chancellor Zhang Hongjing left the chancellor post and became the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), Zhang invited Li Deyu to serve as a secretary. In 819, when Zhang returned to the capital Chang'an to pay homage to the emperor and subsequently remained at Chang'an, Li Deyu was made an imperial censor with the title Jiancha Yushi (監察御史).[3]

title: Doulu Ge

text: Doulu Ge (豆盧革) (d. August 24, 927?) was an official of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms state Later Tang (and, briefly, Later Tang's predecessor state Jin), serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Later Tang's first two emperors Li Cunxu and Li Siyuan. As a chancellor commissioned by Li Cunxu, he did not fit in with the officials trusted by Li Siyuan, and was eventually exiled and forced to commit suicide.

title: Li Fengji

text: In 823, after Emperor Muzong made Niu Sengru a chancellor, over Li Deyu, who also wanted to be chancellor, Li Deyu believed that it was at Li Fengji's recommendation that Niu was made chancellor over him, and therefore resented both Niu and Li Fengji. (The Song Dynasty historian Sima Guang, the author of the "Zizhi Tongjian", believed that it was because of this resentment that Li Deyu later had his associate Li Yirang (李夷讓), write defamatory remarks about Li Fengji and Li Fengji's associates in the imperial chronicles, which were then adopted into the "Old Book of Tang".)

title: Wei Shuo (Later Tang)

text: Wei Shuo (韋說) (died August 24, 927?) was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, and Tang's successor states Later Liang and Later Tang of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Later Tang's first two emperors Li Cunxu and Li Siyuan. As a chancellor commissioned by Li Cunxu, he did not fit in with the officials trusted by Li Siyuan, and was eventually exiled and forced to commit suicide.

title: Zheng Zhu

text: Meanwhile, Li Zhongyan, who met Wang Shoucheng through Li Fengji, was also recommended by Wang to Emperor Wenzong, based on Li Zhongyan's knowledge of the "I Ching". Thereafter, Li Zhongyan also became a close associate of Emperor Wenzong's, despite the opposition of the chancellor Li Deyu. Soon thereafter, because Zheng, Li Zhongyan, and Wang all resented Li Deyu, they persuaded Emperor Wenzong to recall Li Deyu's political enemy, the former chancellor Li Zongmin, to Chang'an to again serve as chancellor. Li Deyu was subsequently removed from his chancellor position.

title: Li Deyu

text: However, as of 834, Li Deyu began to incur Emperor Wenzong's displeasure by opposing commissions for Emperor Wenzong's close associate Li Zhongyan, which also offended another associate of Emperor Wenzong's, Zheng Zhu, as well as the eunuch Wang Shoucheng, who had recommended Zheng and Li Zhongyan to Emperor Wenzong. Wang, Zheng, and Li Zhongyan, in order to fight against Li Deyu, had Li Zongmin recalled from Shannan West to again serve as chancellor. Soon thereafter, Li Deyu was himself commissioned to be the military governor of Shannan West, continuing to carry the Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi title as an honorary title. Li Deyu then met with Emperor Wenzong and requested to stay at Chang'an. Initially, Emperor Wenzong agreed, and allowed him to remain at Chang'an to serve as the minister of defense. However, after Li Zongmin objected that this should not be a matter up for Li Deyu to decide, Emperor Wenzong sent Li Deyu out to Zhenghai Circuit (i.e., Zhexi) to serve as military governor, and further did not allow him to retain the Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi title.[7]

title: Li Zhongyan

text: By fall 834, Li Zhongyan's mourning period was over. Emperor Wenzong wanted to make him an imperial scholar, but this was vehemently opposed by the chancellor Li Deyu, who pointed to Li Zhongyan's past, causing Emperor Wenzong to be displeased. Li Deyu's fellow chancellor Wang Ya, who initially agreed with Li Deyu, seeing Emperor Wenzong's displeasure, changed his mind and no longer opposed Li Zhongyan's commission — and, indeed, when Emperor Wenzong subsequently changed Li Zhongyan's commission to be one for an assistant teacher at the imperial university (a lower post, probably to placate Li Deyu) and advisory officials Zheng Su (鄭肅) and Han Ci (韓佽) sealed the edict and were set to return the edict to him for reconsideration, as was their prerogative, Wang persuaded them not to do so. Subsequently, because Wang, Li Zhongyan, and Zheng Zhu all resented Li Deyu, they had Li Deyu's political enemy, the former chancellor Li Zongmin, recalled from his post as military governor of Shannan West Circuit (山南西道, headquartered in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi), to the capital Chang'an to again serve as chancellor. Soon thereafter, Li Deyu was removed from his chancellor position and sent out to be the military governor of Shannan West. On the same day, Li Zhongyan was made an assistant imperial scholar, over the objections of a number of advisory officials, including Zheng Su and Han.

title: Du Cong

text: In 832, during the reign of Emperor Jingzong's younger brother Emperor Wenzong, Du Cong was made the mayor of Jingzhao Municipality (京兆, i.e., the region of the Tang capital Chang'an). At that time, he was considered a close associate of the chancellor Li Zongmin, a leader of the faction later known as the Niu Faction (named after Li Zongmin's ally Niu Sengru) in the Niu-Li Factional Struggles. He tried to broker a peace between Li Zongmin and Li Deyu, a leader of the rival Li Faction (after whom the Li Faction was named), by suggesting that Li Zongmin offer to recommend Li Deyu to oversee the imperial examinations. Li Zongmin rejected the idea, but agreed to Du's alternate proposal of recommending Li Deyu as chief imperial censor; Li Deyu was pleased, but when Li Zongmin subsequently reneged, the possibility of peace between Li Zongmin and Li Deyu was broken.

title: Niu–Li factional strife

text: Early in Emperor Wenzong's reign, Pei Du and Wei Chuhou were the leading chancellors. In 828, after Wei's death, Lu Sui succeeded Wei. In 829, Emperor Wenzong, under Pei's recommendation, recalled Li Deyu to Chang'an to serve as the deputy minister of defense, and Pei further recommended Li Deyu for chancellorship. However, Li Zongmin, then serving as deputy minister of civil service affairs (吏部侍郎, "Libu Shilang"), was said to prevail over Li Deyu because of support from the eunuchs, and Li Zongmin became chancellor, instead of Li Deyu. Subsequently, in 830, at Li Zongmin's recommendation, Niu was recalled from Wuchang and also made chancellor. It was said that Niu and Li Zongmin, working together, began to eject Li Deyu's partisans out of the imperial government. This included Pei, whom Li Zongmin had made the military governor of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern Xiangfan, Hubei), even though Li Zongmin had previously served on Pei's staff during Pei's first term as chancellor.

title: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (9th century)

text: Emperor Xuānzong honored his mother Consort Zheng as empress dowager. Immediately after taking the throne, Emperor Xuānzong acted against the powerful chancellor Li Deyu, who had dominated the court during Emperor Wuzong's reign, as he despised Li Deyu for monopolizing power. Emperor Xuānzong removed Li Deyu from his chancellor position and sent him out of the capital Chang'an to serve as the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), and also removed Li Deyu's fellow chancellor Zheng Su. Over the next few years, Emperor Xuānzong purged those officials he considered sympathetic to Li Deyu, and further pursued charges against Li Deyu based on Li Deyu having executed the minor official Wu Xiang (吳湘) on charges that should not have warranted death (Li Deyu was resentful of Wu Xiang's uncle Wu Wuling (吳武陵)). Li Deyu was repeatedly demoted and sent farther and farther away from Chang'an, eventually dying in exile around the new year 850 in Yai Prefecture (崖州, in modern Haikou, Hainan). These actions were considered to have largely ended the factionalism among imperial officials known as the Niu–Li factional strife, which had plagued the imperial government ever since the reign of Emperor Muzong. A number of policies that Emperor Wuzong and Li Deyu had pursued, including persecution against Buddhism and alliance with the Yenisei Kirghiz, were reversed. In Li Deyu's place, Emperor Xuānzong installed Bai Minzhong as the leading chancellor, and over the next few years, Bai recommended a number of other officials, including fellow chancellor Ma Zhi.

title: Li Deyu

text: The lead editor of the Old Book of Tang, the Later Jin chancellor Liu Xu, had this to say about Li Deyu:[3]

title: Li Deyu

text: Li Deyu (Chinese:李德裕; pinyin:Lǐ Déyù; 787 – January 26, 850[1][2][3]), courtesy name Wenrao (文饒), formally the Duke of Wei (衛公), was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of brothers Emperor Wenzong and Emperor Wuzong and (briefly) their uncle Emperor Xuānzong. He was the leader of the so-called Li Faction in the decades-long Niu-Li Factional Struggles, and was particularly powerful during Emperor Wuzong's reign, dominating the court scene and guiding policies during the campaigns against the crumbling Huigu Khanate and against the warlord Liu Zhen. After Emperor Wuzong's death, Emperor Xuānzong, who had long despised him for his hold on power, had him demoted and banished, where he died in exile.

title: Li Hui (Tang dynasty)

text: Emperor Wuzong died in 846 and was succeeded by his uncle Emperor Xuānzong. As Emperor Xuānzong despised Li Deyu for his hold on power, he had Li Deyu removed from his chancellor post and sent out of the capital. Li Hui, meanwhile, remained as chancellor and oversaw the building of Emperor Wuzong's tomb, but in 847 was also sent out of the capital to serve as the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan). That winter, with Li Deyu accused of having wrongly killed Wu Xiang (吳湘) on charges of corruption and forced marriage with a commoner — a case that both Li Hui and Zheng Ya were both involved in reviewing and affirming the death sentence of — Li Hui was demoted to be the governor (觀察使, "Guanchashi") of Hunan Circuit (湖南, headquartered in modern Changsha, Hunan) and prefect of its capital Tan Prefecture (in modern Changsha, Hunan). Emperor Xuānzong was then set to further give him the empty title of "Taizi Binke" (太子賓客), an advisor to the Crown Prince (there being no crown prince at the time) and having his office at the eastern capital Luoyang, when an imperial attendant objected to it as being an overly lenient punishment. Li Hui was thereafter demoted to be the prefect of Fu Prefecture (撫州, in modern Fuzhou, Jiangxi). (It was from Emperor Xuānzong's edict that it could be attested that Li Hui carried the title of Duke of Longxi, which was not otherwise mentioned in his biographies.)

title: Du Cong

text: Emperor Wenzong died in 840 and was succeeded by his younger brother Emperor Wuzong, supported by the powerful eunuchs Qiu Shiliang and Yu Hongzhi (魚弘志), against the wishes of the chancellors Li Jue and Yang Sifu. Therefore, after Emperor Wuzong took the throne, he had Yang and Li Jue removed from their chancellor positions and sent out of the capital. In 841, after further accusations by Qiu against Yang, Li Jue, as well as two eunuchs that Emperor Wenzong had favored, Liu Hongyi (劉弘逸) and Xue Jileng (薛季稜), Emperor Wuzong ordered Liu and Xue to commit suicide, and sent messengers to Tang Prefecture (潭州, in modern Changsha, Hunan), where Yang was serving as the governor of Hunan Circuit (湖南), and Gui Prefecture (桂州, in modern Guilin, Guangxi), where Li Jue was serving as the governor of Gui District (桂管), to order Yang and Li Jue to commit suicide as well. When Du Cong heard of this, he met Li Deyu (who had become the lead chancellor by this point) and warned Li Deyu that Emperor Wuzong, being still a young emperor, should not become accustomed to kill high-level officials. Li Deyu and his fellow chancellors Cui Gong, Cui Dan, and Chen Yixing thus interceded on Yang's and Li Jue's behalf. Emperor Wuzong relented and spared Yang's and Li Jue's lives, although they were further demoted.

title: Li Deyu

text: Around new year 827, Emperor Jingzong was assassinated and succeeded by his younger brother Emperor Wenzong.[5] In 829, Emperor Wenzong recalled Li Deyu to Chang'an and made him deputy minister of defense (兵部侍郎, Bingbu Shilang). The senior chancellor Pei Du recommended Li Deyu to Emperor Wenzong to be chancellor, but Li Zongmin, who was then deputy minister of civil service affairs, was named chancellor over Li Deyu due to assistance of eunuchs. Thereafter, because Li Zongmin viewed Li Deyu as a threat, Li Deyu was sent out of Chang'an again to serve as the military governor of Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan). Subsequently, under Li Zongmin's recommendation, Niu, who was the military governor of Wuchang Circuit (武昌, headquartered in modern Wuhan, Hubei) at that point, was recalled to be chancellor in 830, and it was said that Li Zongmin and Niu worked together to eject Li Deyu's allies out of Chang'an; even Pei was sent out of Chang'an to serve as the military governor of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern Xiangfan, Hubei).[6]

title: Li Zongmin

text: In 832, Li Deyu, after a well-regarded stint as the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), was recalled to Chang'an, to serve as the minister of defense, and it was believed that because Emperor Wenzong was impressed by his service at Xichuan, Li Deyu would soon be chancellor. Li Zongmin, without Niu as an ally at Chang'an at this point (as Niu had resigned his chancellorship earlier in the year), was apprehensive of this development, and he consulted his associate, Du Cong the mayor of Jingzhao (京兆, i.e., the Chang'an region) as to what he should do. Du suggested a truce with Li Deyu — pointing out that while Li Deyu, whose career as an official was launched by his status as Li Jifu's son rather than through imperial examinations, was deeply jealous of the officials who had gone through imperial examinations, and that Li Zongmin could effectuate a truce by recommending Li Deyu to be responsible for the imperial examinations. Li Zongmin did not want to do this, however, and under an alternative proposed by Du, offered to recommend Li Deyu as chief imperial censor. Du visited Li Deyu to inform him of this, and Li Deyu was grateful. However, after Li Zongmin consulted another associate, the imperial attendant Yang Yuqing (楊虞卿), Yang opposed this idea, and Li Zongmin did not actually recommend Li Deyu.

title: Temple of the Five Lords

text: Li Deyu () served as chancellor () during the Tang Dynasty. He was the leader and namesake of the Li faction during the Niu-Li Factional Struggles that pitted officials of humble and aristocratic origins against each other. Tang Emperor Xuānzong ended the struggles by handing complete defeat to the Li faction, demoting Li Deyu and sending him to exile in Hainan, where he held the position of census officer at Yai Prefecture (modern Haikou) and remained until his death.

title: Emperor Wenzong of Tang

text: 830 saw the start of factionalism, later known as the Niu-Li Factional Struggles, within Emperor Wenzong's administration—as, by this point, Wei Chuhou had died, and fellow chancellor Pei Du, in his old age, had taken less of a lead on government decisions (and was eventually sent out of the capital to serve as a military governor). The succeeding chancellors Li Zongmin and Niu Sengru were considered factional figures (of the faction historians later referred to as the Niu Faction, named after Niu), and they, together, ejected allies of their political rival Li Deyu (after whom the Li Faction was later named by historians) from government. (Pei had recommended Li Deyu to be chancellor, but Li Zongmin was said to have triumphed over Li Deyu due to assistance by the eunuchs.) Meanwhile, Emperor Wenzong, tired of the eunuchs' influence over his governance and control of the palace, was secretly planning with the official Song Shenxi on how the eunuchs, particularly Wang Shoucheng, could be disarmed. To further plan this, Emperor Wenzong made Song a chancellor as well. However, when Wang and his strategist Zheng Zhu later heard about the plot in 831, they counteracted by falsely accusing Song of planning to overthrow Emperor Wenzong and replace him with his brother Li Cou the Prince of Zhang. As a result, both Li Cou and Song were exiled.

title: Li Deyu

text: Li Deyu was born in 787, during the reign of Emperor Dezong. His grandfather Li Qiyun (李栖筠) served as the chief imperial censor, and his father Li Jifu would eventually serve as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Dezong's grandson Emperor Xianzong. It was said that Li Deyu was ambitious in his youth and was studious, particularly concentrating on the Book of Han and the Zuo Zhuan. He, however, did not want to submit to imperial examinations. During Emperor Dezong's Zhenyuan era (785-805), when Li Jifu was in exile, Li Deyu accompanied his father and did not seek an official career.[3]

title: Li Jue (Tang dynasty)

text: As Emperor Wenzong's burial was being planned, Li Jue was put in charge of overseeing the planning. As Emperor Wenzong's casket was taken to the imperial tomb, on the way, due to a pothole on the road, the wheels dropped, and Emperor Wuzong considered this Li Jue's fault and removed him from the chancellor position; Li Jue was made the minister of worship (太常卿), while the mayor of Jingzhao Municipality (京兆, i.e., the Chang'an region), Jing Xin (敬昕) was demoted to be the military advisor to the prefect of Chen Prefecture (郴州, in modern Chenzhou, Hunan). (It was said, however, that it was actually because Emperor Wuzong knew that Li Jue and Yang Sifu did not support him that they were removed from chancellor positions.) Emperor Wuzong subsequently recalled the former chancellor Li Deyu, a leader of the Li Faction (indeed, which was named after him, while the Niu faction was named after Niu Sengru), to serve as the leading chancellor.[12] Li Jue was subsequently sent out of Chang'an to serve as the governor (觀察使, Guanchashi) of Gui District (桂管, headquartered in modern Guilin, Guangxi) and the prefect of its capital Gui Prefecture.[8]

title: Li Zongmin

text: In 834, as Li Deyu had offended Emperor Wenzong's close associates Li Zhongyan and Zheng Zhu, as well as the powerful eunuch Wang Shoucheng (who had recommended Li Zhongyan and Zheng), Wang, Zheng, and Li Zhongyan wanted to find someone to counter Li Deyu. They knew that Li Deyu and Li Zongmin were political enemies, and so they had Li Zongmin recalled to Chang'an to again serve as "Zhongshu Shilang" and chancellor. Soon thereafter, Li Deyu was sent out of the capital to serve as the military governor of Shannan West Circuit. Li Deyu subsequently met with Emperor Wenzong and requested that he be allowed to stay at Chang'an, and so Emperor Wenzong initially made him the minister of defense again, but when Li Zongmin objected that Li Deyu should not be allowed to do whatever he wanted, Emperor Wenzong sent Li Deyu back to Zhenhai Circuit to serve as its military governor.

title: Li Deyu

text: Later in 845, at Li Deyu's suggestion, Emperor Wuzong established a special treasury for the purpose of border defense, setting aside funds for that purpose. Also, when Emperor Wuzong wanted to create his favorite concubine Consort Wang empress, Li Deyu opposed on the grounds that Consort Wang was of low birth and was sonless, so Emperor Wuzong did not do so. It was said that by this point, as Du Cong and Cui Xuan were no longer chancellors, Li Deyu wielded all the chancellor powers, such that even the eunuchs and Emperor Wuzong were becoming displeased with him. When the imperial attendant Wei Hongzhi (韋弘質) suggested that Li Deyu, as chancellor, should not further be in control of the imperial treasury, Li Deyu submitted a defense of himself and had Wei demoted, further angering other officials.[13]

title: Li Yinheng

text: It is not known when Li Yinheng was born. He came from a prominent aristocratic family, and both his great-grandfather Li Jifu and grandfather Li Deyu were chancellors. Li Deyu, in particular, was particularly powerful during the reign of Emperor Wuzong of Tang, controlling the affairs of state. After Emperor Wuzong was succeeded by his uncle Emperor Xuānzong, however, Li Deyu lost power and was eventually exiled, as was his son (Li Yinheng's father) Li Ye (李燁). Because of this, Li Yinheng was unable to obtain important offices early in his life.

title: Emperor Wenzong of Tang

text: Around the new year 833, Emperor Wenzong suffered a stroke. As Zheng Zhu was a talented physician, Wang Shoucheng recommended Zheng to Emperor Wenzong, and after Zheng was able to treat Emperor Wenzong, Emperor Wenzong became close to Zheng, but it was said that from this point on, Emperor Wenzong's spirit was weakened and could not be as strong as before. Subsequently, another associate of Wang's, Li Zhongyan, also became a close associate of Emperor Wenzong's, despite Li Deyu's attempts to reject him based on his past crimes. In order to counteract Li Deyu, Zheng and Li Zhongyan advocated for Li Zongmin's return from Shannan West, to again serve as chancellor, with Li Deyu sent to Zhenhai Circuit (鎮海, headquartered in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu). It was said that around this time, Emperor Wenzong, exasperated at the factionalism that the Niu and Li Factions were engaging, commended, "It is easy to destroy the bandits [(i.e., the warlords)] north of the Yellow River, but difficult to destroy the factionalism among officials." Subsequently, with Li Deyu having been accused of being closely associated with Li Cou's wet nurse Du Zhongyang (杜仲陽), he was further demoted and exiled. When the chancellor Lu Sui tried to intercede for Li Deyu, he, too, was sent out of the capital to serve as the military governor of Zhenghai.

title: Li Deyu

text: However, Zheng Zhu continued to attack Li Deyu. In 835, Zheng's associates Wang Fan (王璠) and Li Han (李漢) accused Li Deyu of associating with Du Zhongyang (杜仲陽) the wet nurse of Emperor Wenzong's brother Li Cou, formerly the Prince of Zhang (who had, by this point been demoted to be the Duke of Chao County), in order to support Li Cou against Emperor Wenzong. Emperor Wenzong, in anger, summoned a meeting with the chancellors, Zheng, Wang, and Li Han. Li Deyu's colleague as chancellor, Lu Sui, spoke in his defense, so initially, the only consequence that Li Deyu suffered was that he was made Taizi Binke (太子賓客), a member of Li Yong's staff — but sent to have his office at the eastern capital Luoyang, making the title entirely honorary. Subsequently, Lu was himself stripped of his chancellor title and made the military governor of Zhenghai on account of his defending Li Deyu. After Lu's demotion, Li Deyu was further demoted to be the secretary general of Yuan Prefecture (袁州, in modern Yichun, Jiangxi), on charges that he did not visit Emperor Wenzong when Emperor Wenzong was ill and that his tax collection at Xichuan caused the people trouble. When, subsequently, Li Zongmin also incurred Emperor Wenzong's wrath and was exiled as well, Zheng and Li Zhongyan (whose name had been changed to Li Xun at this point) were able to use the opportunity to accuse any imperial official they disliked of being an associate of Li Zongmin or Li Deyu, and those accused were often exiled or demoted.[7]

title: Li Xi (Tang dynasty)

text: Li Xi or Li Qi (李谿 per the "Zizhi Tongjian" and the "History of the Five Dynasties" or 李磎 per the "Old Book of Tang" and the "New Book of Tang") (d. June 4, 895), courtesy name Jingwang (景望), nicknamed Li Shulou (李書樓), was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, serving briefly as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong. With imperial power dwindling, Li Xi's fellow chancellor Cui Zhaowei, who associated with the warlords Li Maozhen, Wang Xingyu, and Han Jian, encouraged Li Maozhen, Wang, and Han to march on the capital Chang'an. Once the three warlords arrived in Chang'an, they put Li Xi and his fellow chancellor Wei Zhaodu to death.

title: Li Deyu

text: In 822, Li Deyu was himself made a Zhongshu Sheren, and continued to serve as imperial scholar.[3] He was considered a possible chancellor candidate, as well as Niu. In 823, Emperor Muzong made a chancellor, while Li Deyu was sent out of Chang'an to serve as the governor (觀察使, Guanchashi) of Zhexi Circuit (浙西, headquartered in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu). Li Deyu believed that this was the machination by then-chancellor Li Fengji to squeeze him out so that Niu could be made chancellor, and thereafter resented Niu and Li Fengji even more.[5]


query: Where was Ronnie Van Zant born?

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: He was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, to Lacy Austin (1915–2004) and Marion Virginia (Hicks) Van Zant (1929–2000). Ronnie aspired to be many things before finding his love for music. Idolising boxer Muhammad Ali, he considered a career in the ring, and while playing American Legion baseball dreamed of Minor League success.[2] Referring to a local NASCAR legend, he would say that he was going to be the most famous person to come out of Jacksonville since stock car champion Lee Roy Yarbrough.

title: Lynyrd Skynyrd

text: 1977's "Street Survivors" turned out to be a showcase for guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, who had joined the band just a year earlier and was making his studio debut with them. Publicly and privately, Ronnie Van Zant marveled at the multiple talents of Skynyrd's newest member, claiming that the band would "all be in his shadow one day". Gaines' contributions included his co-lead vocal with Van Zant on the co-written "You Got That Right" and the rousing guitar boogie "I Know a Little", which he had written before he joined Skynyrd. So confident was Skynyrd's leader of Gaines' abilities that the album (and some concerts) featured Gaines delivering his self-penned bluesy "Ain't No Good Life" – the only song in the pre-crash Skynyrd catalog to feature a lead vocalist other than Ronnie Van Zant. The album also included the hit singles "What's Your Name" and "That Smell". The band was poised for their biggest tour yet, with shows always highlighted by the iconic rock anthem "Free Bird". In November, the band was scheduled to fulfill Van Zant's lifelong dream of headlining New York's Madison Square Garden.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: On October 20, 1977, a plane carrying the band between shows from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ran out of fuel outside Gillsburg, Mississippi. The passengers had been informed about potential problems with the Convair CV-240 and were told to brace for a crash.[5] Van Zant died on impact from head injuries suffered after the aircraft struck a tree. Bandmates Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines, along with assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray, were also killed. The rest of the band was seriously injured.[6] Van Zant was 29 years old.

title: That Smell

text: "That Smell" is a song by the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Written by Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Allen Collins, it was released in 1977 on the album "Street Survivors". At the time the song was written, the band had been drinking and doing many different drugs. Van Zant had said that he started drinking heavily to relieve the pressure of performing in front of large audiences.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: Van Zant married Nadine Inscoe on January 2, 1967. Around this time, Van Zant also worked at his brother-in-law's auto parts store, Morris Auto Parts in Jacksonville. It was said that Van Zant was a virtual catalog of automotive parts, he had a near photographic memory for them. The couple had a daughter named Tammy, before divorcing in 1969; Tammy would become a musician. He married Judy Seymour in 1972 after meeting her at The Comic Book Club through Gary Rossington in 1969.[2] (The club closed in 1975 and is now a parking garage.)[12] They remained married up until his death in 1977. They had one daughter, Melody, born in 1976. Judy Van Zant-Jenness founded the Freebird Live in 1999, a music venue located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. It features Lynyrd Skynyrd memorabilia and is co-owned by Melody Van Zant. She married Jim Jenness and founded and ran The Freebird Foundation until its dissolution in 2001.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: Ex-Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Ed King recalls the intense sadness of Van Zant's funeral, noting that people in attendance were so overcome with grief that they were literally falling down.[8] Van Zant was buried in Orange Park, Florida, in 1977. His body was relocated after vandals broke into his tomb and that of bandmate Steve Gaines on June 29, 2000. Van Zant's casket was pulled out and dropped on the ground. The bag containing Gaines' remains was torn open and some scattered onto the grass.[10] Their mausoleums at Orange Park remain as memorials for fans to visit.

title: Artimus Pyle

text:
In 2014, Pyle was a guest performer on Eli Cook's album, "Primitive Son".
In June 2017, Pyle was sued by Ronnie Van Zant’s widow, Judy Van Zant, Gary Rossington, current Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant, and the representatives and heirs of Allen Collins and Steve Gaines. They claimed his involvement in a low-budget feature film about the band’s plane crash infringed upon a consent decree the band agreed to in 1988.

title: Charles Van Zant

text: Charles E. Van Zant (born November 24, 1943) is an American architect and Southern Baptist minister who served as a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives. From 2012 to 2018, Van Zant represented the 19th District, which includes Bradford County, Putnam County, Union County, and southern Clay County. Van Zant previously represented the 21st District from 2008 to 2012.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: Van Zant was an avid fisherman. He enjoyed baseball, and was a fan of the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. As a child, he played American Legion baseball and aspired for AA league baseball, as he recalled in a 1975 interview.[2]

title: Larry Junstrom

text: Junstrom was the bass guitarist of Lynyrd Skynyrd from its formation in 1964, until being replaced by Leon Wilkeson in 1971. Donnie Van Zant, the younger brother of the Lynyrd Skynyrd leader, Ronnie Van Zant, formed .38 Special in 1974, with Junstrom joining as the bass guitarist in 1977.

title: Van Zant

text: Van Zant is an American musical duo composed of brothers Donnie Van Zant and Johnny Van Zant. Both are brothers of the late Ronnie Van Zant, former lead singer for the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Johnny became the lead vocalist for the reunited Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987, and Donnie was also the leader and vocalist of .38 Special.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: Van Zant had several run-ins with the law, most notably in 1975, when he was arrested for hurling a table out of a second-story hotel room window.[13][14]

title: Jimmie Van Zant

text: He was born in Jacksonville, Florida, the son of E. C. Van Zant who was the cousin of musicians Donnie, Johnny, and Ronnie Van Zant. He took the surname Kelsay from his mother, later adopting his father's name, Van Zant. He began playing guitar and piano as a child, mentored by his cousin Ronnie Van Zant, but largely gave up music until the 1977 plane crash in which Ronnie, the founder and lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, was killed. Jimmie Van Zant then took up a career playing Southern rock music, and performed at festivals and Harley Davidson shows before recording the albums "The Jimmie Van Zant Band" (1996) and "Southern Comfort" (2000). He toured widely with his band, performing over 200 shows each year, and released a third album, "Feels Like Freedom", in 2012.

title: Ronnie Van Zant Memorial Park

text: The Ronnie Van Zant Memorial Park is a public memorial park located in Lake Asbury, Clay County, Florida. The park was built in memory of Ronnie Van Zant, vocalist of Southern rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, who died along with numerous other band members and crew in a 1977 plane crash. The park was funded by fans and family of the band, and features a number of facilities including tennis courts, fishing ponds, a disc golf course and picnic areas, among other amenities.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: The Ronnie Van Zant Memorial Park, funded by fans and family of the band, was built on Sandridge Road in Lake Asbury, Florida, nearby his hometown of Jacksonville.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: According to former bandmate Artimus Pyle and family members, Van Zant frequently discussed his mortality. Pyle recalls a moment when Lynyrd Skynyrd was in Japan: "Ronnie and I were in Tokyo, Japan, and Ronnie told me that he would never live to see thirty and that he would go out with his boots on, in other words, on the road. I said, 'Ronnie, don't talk like that,' but the man knew his destiny."[7] Van Zant's father, Lacy, said, "He said to me many times, 'Daddy, I'll never be 30 years old.' I said, 'Why are you talking this junk?' and he said, 'Daddy, that's my limit.'" Van Zant's father later noted that, "God was a jealous god. Taking him for reasons I don't know."[7] Ex-bandmate Ed King also reported hearing Van Zant saying he would never live to be 30 years old, saying Van Zant said it so often that he "had gotten sick of hearing it".[8] Lynyrd Skynyrd backup singer JoJo Billingsley recalled that Van Zant had begun referring to himself as "The Mississippi Kid" in the months before his death despite being born and raised in Florida. She noted that, eerily, Van Zant's only connection to Mississippi was the fact that he would ultimately die there.[9]

title: Mr. Banker

text: The song is memorable for its lyrics and simple blues guitar riff. The song is sung by Ronnie Van Zant, about a man begging the bank for money to bury his father. Despite misconceptions, the song is not about Van Zant's father, Lacy Van Zant.

title: Gary Rossington

text: According to a "New York Times" article, Lacy Van Zant, patriarch of the Van Zant family, once went to West Jacksonville's Robert E. Lee High School to plead Rossington's case to school administrators after the fatherless Rossington was suspended for having long hair. Lacy Van Zant explained to the assistant principal that Rossington's father, who died shortly after Rossington was born, had died in the Army and that Rossington's mother needed the money Rossington made playing in his band. Lacy Van Zant further explained that, like his own sons, they were working men and long hair was part of the job. It's not known if the elder Van Zant's efforts were successful, but Rossington later dropped out of high school to focus on Lynyrd Skynyrd full time.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: Ronald Wayne Van Zant (January 15, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was an American lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and founding member of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was the older brother of two other rock vocalists: current Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant, and Donnie Van Zant, the founder and vocalist of 38 Special. He was the father of Tammy Van Zant and Melody Van Zant.[1]

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: "The All-Night Bus Ride", the 8th episode of Season 1 of the Showtime series Roadies, was made in honor of Van Zant and the band.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: Several members of his family have memorialized Ronnie in their music. His brothers Johnny and Donnie co-wrote the title track of John's 1990 album "Brickyard Road"[15] with family friend and album producer Robert White Johnson. In the reformed Lynyrd Skynyrd's music video for the posthumously-released track "What's Your Name" closes with a white hat similar to Ronnie's sitting atop a microphone. Ronnie's daughter Tammy, who was only 10 years old when he died, dedicated the album title track, "Freebird Child" as well as the music video to her father in 2009.[16] Jimmie Van Zant recorded the tribute track "Ronnie's Song" on the album Southern Comfort (2000).[17]

title: Lynyrd Skynyrd

text:
On February 5, 2005, Lynyrd Skynyrd did a Super Bowl party in Jacksonville with special guests 3 Doors Down, Jo Dee Messina, Charlie Daniels and Ronnie and Johnny Van Zant's brother Donnie Van Zant of 38 Special. On February 13 of that year Lynyrd Skynyrd did a tribute to Southern Rock on the Grammy Awards with Gretchen Wilson, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban and Dickey Betts. In the summer of 2005, lead singer Johnny Van Zant had to have surgery on his vocal cord to have a polyp removed. He was told not to sing for three months. On September 10, 2005, Lynyrd Skynyrd performed without Johnny Van Zant at the Music Relief Concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, with Kid Rock standing in for Johnny. In December 2005, Johnny Van Zant returned to sing for Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band performed live at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, as a part of their 2007 tour. The concert was recorded in high definition for HDNet and premiered on December 1, 2007.
Mark "Sparky" Matejka, formerly of the country music band Hot Apple Pie, joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2006 as Thomasson's replacement. On November 2, 2007, the band performed for a crowd of 50,000 people at the University of Florida's Gator Growl student-run pep rally in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium ("The Swamp" football stadium). This was the largest crowd that Lynyrd Skynyrd had played to in the U.S., until the July 2008 Bama Jam in Enterprise, Alabama where more than 111,000 people attended.

title: Lynyrd Skynyrd

text: In Jacksonville, Florida during the summer of 1964, Ronnie Van Zant, Bob Burns, and Gary Rossington became acquainted while playing on rival baseball teams and decided to jam together one afternoon after Burns was injured by a ball hit by Van Zant. The trio set up their equipment in the carport of Burns' parents' house and played The Rolling Stones' then-current hit "Time Is on My Side". Liking what they heard, they immediately decided to form a band. They soon approached guitarist Allen Collins, though Collins initially fled on his bicycle and hid in a tree at the sight of Van Zant pulling into his driveway. Collins was soon convinced that Van Zant meant him no harm and he agreed to join the fledgling band. Bassist Larry Junstrom soon rounded out the lineup and the band settled on the name My Backyard, later changed to The Noble Five before becoming The One Percent by 1968.

title: Charles Van Zant

text: Van Zant was born in Jacksonville and attended Stetson University before graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in architecture in 1968. Upon graduation, he founded Van Zant Associates, an architecture firm, which he continues to own. Van Zant attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received a Master of Divinity degree, and the Western Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received a Doctorate of Theology degree. In addition to working as an architect, he has served as the pastor of multiple churches, included the First Baptist Church of Keystone Heights and Trinity Baptist Church. Van Zant was appointed to the Clay County School Board in 2007 by Governor Charlie Crist, and served as its Vice-Chairman.

title: Southern by the Grace of God

text: Southern by the Grace of God is a live album by southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, this live concert was a tribute by Lynyrd Skynyrd to the members of the band who had died in the 1977 plane crash. The plane crash killed frontman Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines and road manager Dean Kilpatrick. This is the first album produced by the band after the '77 plane crash. The band's lineup was re-worked into a second-generation Skynyrd. The changes include: Johnny Van Zant, younger brother of Ronnie Van Zant, taking over on vocals, Ed King, who departed the band during a 1975 tour and Randall Hall, who replaced the paralyzed Allen Collins. The three (King, Hall along with founding member Gary Rossington) re-form the famous triple-lead guitar attack of the original band. New background vocalists Carol Bristow and Dale Krantz-Rossington were added to take the place of the original Honkettes.

title: Double Trouble (Lynyrd Skynyrd song)

text: The song features Ronnie Van Zant singing about how he is a troublemaker. Lyrics include "Double Trouble, is what my friends all call me". According to the book "Whiskey Bottles and Brand New Cars: The Fast Life and Sudden Death of Lynyrd Skynyrd" by Mark Ribowsky, the genesis for the song came from a time when Gary Rossington was in jail with Ronnie Van Zant and he asked him how many times he had been arrested, to which Van Zant replied eleven times. Rossington replied, "Man, you're double trouble". Also, according to Ribowsky, the band originally recorded under a record label called "Double T Productions" which stood for "Double Trouble". The song also features backup vocals from The Honkettes.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: Alt country band Drive-By Truckers also paid tribute to Ronnie and members of the original band on their Southern Rock Opera album.

title: Donnie Van Zant

text: Donald Newton "Donnie" Van Zant (born June 11, 1952, in Jacksonville, Florida) is an American rock vocalist/guitarist. He is best known for being a member of the band 38 Special, from its formation in 1974 until 2013. He is the middle of three sons of a truck driver. Older brother Ronnie was the original lead singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd; who died in a plane crash in Mississippi. Younger brother Johnny has been the lead singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd since 1987; the two also perform together from time to time as the group Van Zant.

title: Johnny Van Zant

text: Johnny Roy Van Zant (born February 27, 1960) is an American musician and the current lead vocalist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He is the younger brother of the late Lynyrd Skynyrd co-founder and former lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, and of the 38 Special founder Donnie Van Zant.

title: Ronnie Van Zant

text: Van Zant's younger brother, Johnny, took over as the new lead singer when the band reunited in 1987.


query: How big is Águas de São Pedro?

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: Águas de São Pedro (Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈaɡwas di sɐ̃w̃ ˈpedɾu](listen)) is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo located 184 kilometres (114 miles) from the state capital.[note 1] At only 3.61 square kilometres (1.39 square miles), it is the second-smallest Brazilian municipality in terms of area,[4] and had a population of 2,707 in 2010.[5] Águas de São Pedro means "Waters of Saint Peter". Its name is derived from the mineral springs in its territory and their location, which before the city's founding were part of the municipality of São Pedro (Saint Peter).

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: Idealized by José Palma in 2002,[73][74] the Caminho do Sol (Way of the Sun) is a preparatory way to the Way of St. James, and it is recognized by the Xunta de Galicia.[75] The route ends at the city of Águas de São Pedro, in the Casa de Santiago (House of St.James) located in the Mini Horto. Several pilgrims, with bicycles or hiking, come to the city every year along the way as a religious pilgrimage or tourism. The way is 241 kilometres (150mi) long and passes through 12 municipalities in the following order: Santana de Parnaíba, Pirapora do Bom Jesus, Cabreúva, Itu, Salto, Elias Fausto, Capivari, Mombuca, Saltinho, Piracicaba, São Pedro, and Águas de São Pedro.

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: Águas de São Pedro is divided into four neighborhoods: Jardim Jerubiaçaba (Garden Jerubiaçaba; Jerubiaçaba means "loyalty" in Tupí–Guaraní) in the northeast, Jardim Iporanga (Garden Iporanga; Iporanga means "beautiful river" in Tupí–Guaraní) in the east, Centro (Center), and Jardim Porangaba (Garden Porangaba; Porangaba means "nice view" in Tupí–Guaraní) in the south.[36]

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: In 1946 a chapel was completed, its architecture based on a chapel seen by Dr.Octavio in the city of Rio de Janeiro.[55] The chapel was dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. In 1954 Águas de São Pedro was removed from the City of São Pedro parish, and on 29 May of that same year, the present-day Immaculate Conception Parish was founded by Don Ernesto de Paula.[55] The parish is subordinate to the Diocese of Piracicaba.

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: Until 1800 the region of São Pedro and its enclave was virgin forest. The first people to set foot in Águas de São Pedro territory were, as in most municipalities in the São Paulo countryside, bandeirantes seeking precious stones, especially gold, opening many roads and routes in the dense forest. One of these routes, called Caminho do Picadão (Way of the Forest Trail), started in Itu, passed through Piracicaba and advanced towards the hinterlands of Araraquara.[19] For years, many farms were established in the region, until in 1883, São Pedro was detached from Piracicaba and became politically independent.[19]

title: Águas de São Pedro–São Paulo 1941 chess tournament

text: The tournament would begin on June 30, but it was preferred to start the competition on July 2. Most of the matches took place at the "Grande Hotel" in Águas de São Pedro, but the last four have occurred in São Paulo. Of these four, two occurred in the foyer of the Municipal Theatre, and two occurred at the headquarters of São Paulo Chess Club, on the second floor of the Martinelli Building.

title: Spa town

text: Brazil has a growing number of spa towns. The traditional ones are: Águas de Lindoia, Serra Negra, Águas de São Pedro, Caxambu, Poços de Caldas, Caldas Novas, Araxá, and São Lourenço.

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: Recognizing the importance of the thermal springs in the region, the São Paulo State Government on 19 June 1940 founded[21][22] the Estância Hidromineral e Climática de Águas de São Pedro (Hydromineral and Climatic Spa of Águas de São Pedro). Despite this, the city celebrates its birthday on 25 July,[23] the date in 1940 of the founding of the first major building in the city, the Grande Hotel (now Grande Hotel São Pedro). The municipality of Águas de São Pedro was incorporated by State Law No.233, of 24 December 1948.[1]

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: The history of the Catholic Church in Águas de São Pedro started when Mrs. Maria Julia das Dores Andrade, mother of the city founder, asked him to build the "House of God" along with the construction of the Grande Hotel.[55] The highest place of the city was selected to erect it.

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: R$67,496,000.00 of the municipal GDP is from services, currently the major source of GDP of Águas de São Pedro.[56] A major part of the tertiary sector is tourism, and the city's economy is geared exclusively toward this sector. The municipality of Águas de São Pedro is integrated with the Tourism Region of the Itaqueri Ridge and has as its main attraction its medicinal mineral waters. According to city officials, the new tourism routes go through regionalization.[27] Tourists attracted by the natural attractions also help to stimulate the commercial sector of the city. The busiest retail centres are Carlos Mauro Avenue and Trade Street, which after renovations costing R$302,000.00[58] has become a pedestrian street.

title: List of mayors of Águas de São Pedro

text: This is a listing of all those that have served as the Mayor of the municipality of Águas de São Pedro in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

title: Coat of arms of Águas de São Pedro

text: The coat of arms of Águas de São Pedro started to be used in the Municipal Office in the beginning of 1971, but was only officialized by law on July 7, 1972. Before 1971 it was the coat of arms of the state of São Paulo that was used in the municipal official documents.

title: Coat of arms of Águas de São Pedro

text: According to the text of the Municipal Law number 408 of July 7, 1972, Article I, the heraldic blazon of Águas de São Pedro's coat of arms is:

title: Coat of arms of Águas de São Pedro

text: The samnite shield used to represent the Coat of arms of the Spa of Águas de São Pedro was the first style of shield introduced in Portugal by French influence, inherited by the Brazilian heraldry as an evocative of the colonizing race and main molder of the Brazilian nationality.

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: Águas de São Pedro was incorporated in the 1940s. The city is known for its mineral waters of medicinal value, their natural sources popular tourist attractions. One of the springs, Fonte Juventude, has the second most highly sulfurous water in the world.[17] It also has two large parks, Dr.Octavio Moura Andrade Park and the Parque das Águas "José Benedito Zani", and the municipal mini-garden, all important green areas of the city.

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: The geomorphology of the area of Águas de São Pedro is characterized by reliefs of low, soft hills–separated by valleys without major river plains–and it is slightly rugged, with sites that only rarely exceed 200 metres (656ft) of unevenness. The municipality is at an altitude of 515 metres (1,690ft) above sea level,[6] and located in a geographic region called the São Paulo State Peripheral Depression, near the border with the Western Plateau, in an area of basaltic cuestas.[37]

title: Coat of arms of Águas de São Pedro

text: The coat of arms of Águas de São Pedro was designed by the heraldist Professor Arcinoé Antonio Peixoto de Faria, from the Municipalist Heraldic Encyclopedia (). It was created by the request of the municipal government, that needed a symbol to represent the city.

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: In 1892 a railway station was opened in the town of São Pedro; it belonged to the Companhia União Sorocabana e Ytuana, which later served as a route for those who wanted to reach Águas de São Pedro. Between 1907 and 1919 it was part of the Sorocabana Railway, and until 1966 it belonged to the Sorocabana Railroad, part of the already defunct Piracicaba Line. The station was deactivated at the end of the 1960s, when the first paved roads were built in São Pedro and its enclave.[96] Today, only one highway passes through the city, the SP-304, Rodovia Geraldo de Barros. It connects Águas de São Pedro with the cities of São Pedro (8 kilometres (5mi) northwest) and Piracicaba (29 kilometres (18mi) southeast).[note 1] Due to the high volume of truck traffic, part of the road that passes through the urban area developed several potholes. In response to that problem, politicians of the municipality and the neighbouring cities pressured the state governor for the duplication of the highway.[97] After the Department of Highways (DER) approved the project,[98] the construction began on 22 August 2014[99] and is ongoing.

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: The municipality of Águas de São Pedro covers 3.612 square kilometres (1.4sqmi), the second-smallest Brazilian city in area, only larger than Santa Cruz de Minas.[34] It represents 0.0015% of the state territory and 0.0004% of the area of southeastern Brazil.[35] The municipality does not have a rural area, only an urban perimeter.[34]

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: Águas de São Pedro is served by three public schools:[8][91]

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: More recently, Águas de São Pedro has sent delegations to participate in the Jogos Regionais do Idoso (Senior Regional Games, known by the acronym JORI) and the Jogos Abertos do Idoso (Senior Open Games, known by the acronym JAI). In 2015 44 athletes were sent to participate in the 19th JORI, a competition with participation of 3,500 athletes from 56 municipalities, and Águas de São Pedro attained 20th place.[80]

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: There are two local holidays in Águas de São Pedro: the city anniversary (25 July) and the day of the Immaculate Conception (8 December).[68]

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: In 1941 the Grande Hotel hosted the first major chess competition in Brazil, the Torneio Internacional de Águas de São Pedro (Águas de São Pedro International Tournament).[79]

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: Escola Municipal de Educação Infantil "Vida" ("Vida" Municipal Pre-school), also known by the acronym EMEI Vida. Escola Municipal de Ensino Fundamental de Águas de São Pedro "Maria Luiza Fornasier Franzin" I, II e III (Águas de São Pedro Municipal Elementary School "Maria Luiza Fornasier Franzin" I, II and III), also known by the acronym EMEFASP "Maria Luiza Fornasier Franzin" I, II and III. The numbers I, II and III represents the three different buildings of the school; each building houses different school grades. Escola Estadual Angelo Franzin ("Angelo Franzin" State School), also known by the acronym E.E. "Angelo Franzin", is a high school.

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: The city of Águas de São Pedro had 990 residences in 2010. Of this total 654 were owned properties, with 610 owned and already paid for, 44 being paid for, and 266 rented; 69 properties were lent, with 38 lent by an employer and 31 lent by other means.[10]

text: The Águas de São Pedro International Tournament () was a chess tournament held from 2 to 26 July 1941 in Águas de São Pedro and São Paulo. The event, the first international chess tournament of Brazil, was organized by the São Paulo Chess Club and sponsored by Antonio and Octavio Moura Andrade, being the latter founder of Águas de São Pedro and owner of the "Grande Hotel".

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: In the field of performing arts, between 2006 and 2010, an ongoing Theatre Exhibition of São Pedro and Águas de São Pedro was held. In 2010 the project won the "Competition to Support Festivals of Art in the State São Paulo" that was promoted by the Secretariat of State for Culture, part of the "Cultural Action Program" organized by the Associação Cultural Arte (Art Cultural Association), which ensured that the event had full and unrestricted support from the governments of the two cities.[76]

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: There is no courthouse in Águas de São Pedro; the municipality is part of the district court of São Pedro.[82] According to the Regional Electoral Court of São Paulo, the city had in 2014 2,881 voters,[83] a number greater than the number of inhabitants. This happens because the city has many vacationers and students that end up transferring their electoral register to the municipality.[84]

title: Águas de São Pedro

text: The city also has an institution of higher education: inaugurated in 1995,[92] the Centro Universitário Senac–Campus Águas de São Pedro (Senac University Center–Águas de São Pedro Campus) is a private university maintained by the Brazilian National Commercial Training Service, that is known by the acronym Senac (Portuguese: Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Comercial). It was formerly known as Senac Faculties, but in 2004 it was accredited by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture as University Center.[92][93]

title: Coat of arms of Águas de São Pedro

text: The Coat of arms of the Municipality of the Hydromineral Spa of Águas de São Pedro () is the official coat of arms of Águas de São Pedro.


query: What was the last high-yield thermonuclear weapon design test conducted by the US at Bikini Atoll?

title: Castle Bravo

text: Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of Operation Castle. Detonated on March 1, 1954, the device was the most powerful nuclear device detonated by the United States and its first lithium deuteride fueled thermonuclear weapon.[1][2] Castle Bravo's yield was 15 megatons of TNT, 2.5 times the predicted 6.0 megatons, due to unforeseen additional reactions involving 7Li,[3] which led to the unexpected radioactive contamination of areas to the east of Bikini Atoll.

title: History of nuclear weapons

text: Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean in the summer of 1946. Its purpose was to test the effect of nuclear weapons on naval ships. To prepare the Bikini atoll for the nuclear tests, Bikini's native residents were evicted from their homes and resettled on smaller, uninhabited islands where they were unable to sustain themselves.[33]

title: Frederick Reines

text: Reines participated in a number of nuclear tests, and writing reports on their results. These included Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in 1946, Operation Sandstone at Eniwetok Atoll in 1948, and Operation Ranger and Operation Buster–Jangle at the Nevada Test Site. In 1951 he was the director of Operation Greenhouse series of nuclear tests in the Pacific. This saw the first American tests of boosted fission weapons, an important step towards thermonuclear weapons. He studied the effects of nuclear blasts, and co-authored a paper with John von Neumann on Mach stem formation, an important aspect of an air blast wave.

title: Bikini Atoll

text: The nuclear weapons testing at Bikini Atoll program was a series of 23 nuclear devices detonated by the United States between 1946 and 1958 at seven test sites. The test weapons were detonated on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air and underwater with a combined fission yield of 42.2 Mt. The testing began with the Operation Crossroads series in July 1946. Shortly after World War II ended, President Harry S. Truman directed Army and Navy officials to secure a site for testing nuclear weapons on American warships. While the Army had seen the results of a land-based explosion, the Navy wanted to know the effect of a nuclear weapon on ships. They wanted to determine whether ships could be spaced at sea and in ports in a way that would make nuclear weapons ineffective against vessels.

title: Marshall Holloway

text: Marshall Glecker Holloway (November 23, 1912 – June 18, 1991) was an American physicist who worked at the Los Alamos Laboratory during and after World War II. He was its representative, and the deputy scientific director, at the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in July 1946. Holloway became the head of the Laboratory's W Division, responsible for new weapons development. In September 1952 he was charged with designing, building and testing a thermonuclear weapon, popularly known as a hydrogen bomb. This culminated in the Ivy Mike test in November of that year.

title: Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll

text: The seventeen-shot Redwing series followed—eleven tests at Enewetak Atoll and six at Bikini. The island residents who had been promised they would be able to return home to Bikini was thwarted indefinitely by the U.S. decision to resume nuclear testing at Bikini in 1954. During 1954, 1956, and 1958, twenty-one more nuclear bombs were detonated at Bikini, yielding a total of , equivalent to more than three thousand "Baker" bombs. Only one was an air burst, the 3.8 Mt Redwing "Cherokee" test. Air bursts distribute fallout in a large area, but surface bursts produce intense local fallout. These tests were followed by the 33-shot Hardtack tests which began in late April 1958. The last of ten tests were detonated on Bikini Atoll on 22 July 1958.

title: Operation Redwing

text: Operation Redwing was a United States series of 17 nuclear test detonations from May to July 1956. They were conducted at Bikini and Enewetak atolls by Joint Task Force 7 (JTF7). The entire operation followed "Project 56" and preceded "Project 57". The primary intention was to test new, second-generation thermonuclear weapons. Also tested were fission devices intended to be used as primaries for thermonuclear weapons, and small tactical weapons for air defense. "Redwing" demonstrated the first United States airdrop of a deliverable hydrogen bomb during test "Cherokee". Because the yields for many tests at "Operation Castle" in 1954 were dramatically higher than predictions, "Redwing" was conducted using an "energy budget": There were limits to the total amount of energy released, and the amount of fission yield was also strictly controlled. Fission, primarily "fast" fission of the natural uranium tamper surrounding the fusion capsule, greatly increases the yield of thermonuclear devices, and constitutes the great majority of the fallout, as nuclear fusion is a relatively clean reaction.

title: Operation Ivy

text: The first "Ivy" shot, "Mike", was the first successful full-scale test of a multi-megaton thermonuclear weapon ("hydrogen bomb") using the Teller-Ulam design. Unlike later thermonuclear weapons, "Mike" used deuterium as its fusion fuel, maintained as a liquid by an expensive and cumbersome cryogenic system. It was detonated on Elugelab Island yielding 10.4 megatons, almost 500 times the yield of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Eight megatons of the yield was from fast fission of the uranium tamper, creating massive amounts of radioactive fallout. The detonation left an underwater crater 6,240 ft (1.9 km) wide and 164 ft (50 m) deep where Elugelab Island had been. Following this successful test, the "Mike" design was weaponized as the EC-16, but it was quickly abandoned for solid-fueled designs after the success of the Castle Bravo shot.

title: Nuclear weapons testing

text: The first nuclear device was detonated as a test by the United States at the Trinity site on July 16, 1945, with a yield approximately equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT. The first thermonuclear weapon technology test of engineer device, codenamed "Ivy Mike", was tested at the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands on November 1, 1952 (local date), also by the United States. The largest nuclear weapon ever tested was the "Tsar Bomba" of the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961, with the largest yield ever seen, an estimated 50–58 megatons.

title: Castle Yankee

text:
Castle Yankee was the code name given to one of the tests in the Operation Castle series of American tests of thermonuclear bombs. It was originally intended as a test of a TX-16/EC-16 bomb, but the design became obsolete after the Castle Bravo test was successful. The test device was replaced with a TX-24/EC-24 bomb which was detonated on May 5, 1954, at Bikini Atoll.
It released energy equivalent to 13.5 megatons of TNT, the second-largest yield ever in a U.S. fusion weapon test.

title: Nuclear weapon

text: Only six countries—United States, Russia, United Kingdom, China, France, and India—have conducted thermonuclear weapon tests. (Whether India has detonated a "true" multi-staged thermonuclear weapon is controversial.)[15] North Korea claims to have tested a fusion weapon as of January2016, though this claim is disputed.[16] Thermonuclear weapons are considered much more difficult to successfully design and execute than primitive fission weapons. Almost all of the nuclear weapons deployed today use the thermonuclear design because it is more efficient.

title: Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll

text: The United States was in a Cold War Nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union to build bigger and better bombs. The next series of tests over Bikini Atoll was code named Operation Castle. The first test of that series was Castle Bravo, a new design utilizing a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb. It was detonated at dawn on March 1, 1954.

title: Thermonuclear weapon

text: The French nuclear testing site was moved to the unpopulated French atolls in the Pacific Ocean. The first test conducted at these new sites was the "Canopus" test in the Fangataufa atoll in French Polynesia on 24 August 1968, the country's first multistage thermonuclear weapon test. The bomb was detonated from a balloon at a height of 520 meters. The result of this test was significant atmospheric contamination. Very little is known about France's development of the Teller–Ulam design, beyond the fact that France detonated a 2.6 Mt device in the 'Canopus" test. France reportedly had great difficulty with its initial development of the Teller-Ulam design, but it later overcame these, and is believed to have nuclear weapons equal in sophistication to the other major nuclear powers.

title: Thermonuclear weapon

text: As thermonuclear weapons represent the most efficient design for weapon energy yield in weapons with yields above , virtually all the nuclear weapons of this size deployed by the five nuclear-weapon states under the Non-Proliferation Treaty today are thermonuclear weapons using the Teller–Ulam design.

title: Test No. 6

text: The goal of China was to produce a thermonuclear device of at least a megaton in yield that could be dropped by an aircraft or carried by a ballistic missile. Several explosions to test thermonuclear weapon designs, characteristics and yield boosting preceded the thermonuclear test.

title: History of the Teller–Ulam design

text: North Korea claimed to have tested its miniaturised thermonuclear bomb on 6 January 2016. North Korea's first three nuclear tests (2006, 2009 and 2013) were relatively low yield and do not appear to have been of a thermonuclear weapon design. In 2013, the South Korean Defense Ministry has speculated that North Korea may be trying to develop a "hydrogen bomb" and such a device may be North Korea's next weapons test. In January 2016, North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, though only a magnitude 5.1 seismic event was detected at the time of the test, a similar magnitude to the 2013 test of a 6-9 kt atomic bomb. These seismic recordings have scientists worldwide doubting North Korea's claim that a hydrogen bomb was tested and suggest it was a non-fusion nuclear test. On 9 September 2016, North Korea conducted their fifth nuclear test which yielded between 10 and 30 kilotons.

title: Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll

text: The nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll program was a series of 23 nuclear devices detonated by the United States between 1946 and 1958 at seven test sites on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air and underwater. The test weapons produced a combined fission yield of 42.2 Mt of explosive power.

title: History of nuclear weapons

text: On March 1, 1954, the U.S. detonated its first practical thermonuclear weapon (which used isotopes of lithium as its fusion fuel), known as the "Shrimp" device of the Castle Bravo test, at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. The device yielded 15 megatons, more than twice its expected yield, and became the worst radiological disaster in U.S. history. The combination of the unexpectedly large blast and poor weather conditions caused a cloud of radioactive nuclear fallout to contaminate over 7,000 square miles (18,000km2). 239 Marshall Island natives and 28 Americans were exposed to significant amounts of radiation, resulting in elevated levels of cancer and birth defects in the years to come.[29]

title: Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll

title: Nuclear weapon design

text: On July 19, 1956, AEC Chairman Lewis Strauss said that the Redwing Zuni shot clean bomb test "produced much of importance ... from a humanitarian aspect." However, less than two days after this announcement, the dirty version of Bassoon, called Bassoon Prime, with a uranium-238 tamper in place, was tested on a barge off the coast of Bikini Atoll as the Redwing Tewa shot. The Bassoon Prime produced a 5-megaton yield, of which 87% came from fission. Data obtained from this test, and others, culminated in the eventual deployment of the highest yielding US nuclear weapon known, and the highest yield-to-weight weapon ever made, a three-stage thermonuclear weapon with a maximum "dirty" yield of 25 megatons, designated as the B41 nuclear bomb, which was to be carried by U.S. Air Force bombers until it was decommissioned; this weapon was never fully tested.

title: Science and technology in China

title: Uranium hydride bomb

text: Two test devices were fielded in 1953 as part of operation Upshot–Knothole. The principal aim of the University of California Radiation Laboratory designs was a preliminary "nucleonics investigation" for a spherical deuterated polyethylene charge containing uranium deuteride as a candidate thermonuclear fuel for the "Radiator", an early incarnation of the "Morgenstern". It was hoped that deuterium would fuse (become an active medium) in the secondary's core if compressed appropriately through radiation implosion. The fuel was selected so that UCRL's thermonuclear program would not compete with LASL's on scarce materials at the time, specifically lithium. If successful, the devices could also lead to a compact primary containing minimal amount of fissile material, and powerful enough to ignite Ramrod the other Mark 22 nuclear bomb prototype designed by UCRL at the time. For a hydride-type primary, the degree of compression would not make deuterium to fuse, thus the design would be essentially a pure fission weapon, not a boosted one. The devices themselves as tested in Upshot-Knothole were experimental systems, not weapon prototypes, and were not designed to be used as weapons, or thermonuclear primaries. The cores consisted of a mix of uranium deuteride (UD), powder-compacted with deuterated polyethylene. No boron was used. The core tested in "Ray" used uranium with low enrichment in U, and in both shots deuterium acted as the neutron moderator. The predicted yield was 1.5 to 3 kt for "Ruth" (with a maximum potential yield of 20 kt) and 0.5-1 kt for "Ray". The tests produced yields of 200 tons of TNT each; both tests were considered to be fizzles.

title: Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll

text: Shipwrecks in the lagoon include:The following above-ground nuclear device tests were conducted on or near Bikini Atoll from 1946 to 1958, comprising 15.1% of total test yield worldwide. These dates are given in US Eastern time zone The days of the week are a day earlier than they were at Bikini

title: USS Belle Grove (LSD-2)

text: On 2 January 1954, the dock landing ship sailed for Pearl Harbor in preparation for Operation Castle, a six-detonation atmospheric nuclear test slated to occur at Bikini and Eniwetok atolls in the Marshall Islands. Arriving at Bikini Atoll on 19 January, "Belle Grove" resumed the familiar role of transport and "mother" ship to a boat pool of 26 small craft. In addition, before each test, the ship evacuated people and boats from the test sites. Following each test, she quickly returned to the lagoon to enable LCM decontamination and recovery operations to proceed as soon as possible. The first five thermonuclear detonations occurred at Bikini between 1 March and 5 May, and the last one took place on 14 May at Eniwetok.

title: Bikini Atoll

text: Mason requested that food be brought to the islanders on Rongerik immediately along with a medical officer. The Navy then selected Ujelang Atoll for their temporary home and some young men from the Bikini Atoll population went ahead to begin constructing living accommodations. But U.S. Trust Authorities changed their mind. They decided to use Enewetak Atoll as a second nuclear weapons test site and relocated that atoll's residents to Ujelang Atoll instead and to the homes built for the Bikini Islanders.

title: British nuclear tests at Maralinga

text: Operation Antler followed in 1957. Antler was designed to test components for thermonuclear weapons, with particular emphasis on triggering mechanisms. Three tests began in September, codenamed "Tadje", "Biak" and "Taranaki". The first two tests were conducted from towers, the last was suspended from balloons. Yields from the weapons were , and respectively. The Tadje test used cobalt pellets as a 'tracer' for determining yield; later rumours developed that Britain had been developing a cobalt bomb. The Royal Commission found that personnel handling these pellets were later exposed to the active cobalt 60. Although the Antler series were better planned and organised than earlier series, intermediate fallout from the Taranaki test exceeded predictions.

title: Operation Grapple

text: In July 1954, the Cabinet decided to develop the hydrogen bomb. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston produced three designs: Orange Herald, a large boosted fission weapon; Green Bamboo, an interim thermonuclear design; and Green Granite, a true thermonuclear weapon. The first test series consisted of three tests in May and June 1957. In the first, Grapple 1, a version of Green Granite known as Short Granite was dropped from a Vickers Valiant bomber flown by Wing Commander Kenneth Hubbard. The bomb's yield was estimated at , far below its designed capability. Despite its failure, the test was hailed as a successful thermonuclear explosion, and the government did not confirm or deny reports that the UK had become a third thermonuclear power. The second test was Grapple 2, of Orange Herald. Its yield made it technically a megaton weapon. It was the largest ever achieved by a single stage device. Grapple 3 tested Purple Granite, a Short Granite with some fixes. Its yield was a very disappointing .

title: Pacific Proving Grounds

text: Seventeen nuclear weapons were detonated on the Bikini and Enewetak Atolls as part of Operation Redwing in 1956. Many of them were designed to prove the feasibility of numerous thermonuclear weapon designs, with yields ranging from around 2 to 5 Mt.

title: Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

text: Much of the stimulus for the treaty was increasing public unease about radioactive fallout as a result of above-ground or underwater nuclear testing, particularly given the increasing power of nuclear devices, as well as concern about the general environmental damage caused by testing. In 1952–53, the US and Soviet Union detonated their first thermonuclear weapons (hydrogen bombs), far more powerful than the atomic bombs tested and deployed since 1945. In 1954, the US Castle Bravo test at Bikini Atoll (part of Operation Castle) had a yield of 15 megatons of TNT, more than doubling the expected yield. The Castle Bravo test resulted in the worst radiological event in US history as radioactive particles spread over more than , affected inhabited areas (including Rongelap Atoll and Utirik Atoll), and sickened Japanese fishermen aboard the "Lucky Dragon" upon whom "ashes of death" had rained. In the same year, a Soviet test sent radioactive particles over Japan. Around the same time, victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima visited the US for medical care, which attracted significant public attention. In 1961, the Soviet Union tested the Tsar Bomba, which had a yield of 50 megatons and remains the most powerful man-made explosion in history, though due to a highly efficient detonation fallout was relatively limited. Between 1951 and 1958, the US conducted 166 atmospheric tests, the Soviet Union conducted 82, and Britain conducted 21; only 22 underground tests were conducted in this period (all by the US).

title: Harold Agnew

text: With his doctorate in hand, Agnew returned to Los Alamos as a National Research Foundation Fellow, and worked on weapons development in the Physics Division. In 1950, he was assigned to the thermonuclear weapons project, and was project engineer for the Castle Bravo nuclear test at Bikini Atoll in 1954. He became head of the Weapon Nuclear Engineering Division in 1964.