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American Experience

Freeman Dyson and Project Orion

Could interplanetary space travel be made possible by harnessing the power of a nuclear bomb? In 1958, that was the question facing nuclear physicist Freeman Dyson and the team behind Project Orion—one of many Cold War attempts to find new beneficial uses for the bomb. Then one day, Dyson had a realization that made him rethink his support of nuclear testing. Learn his story in this co-production

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