![When A US Missile Accidentally Struck Mexico - Athena Flight #122 [English Audio]](/images/yt/z5/when-a-us-missile-accidentally-struck-mexico-athena-flight-rdv9s.jpg)
When A US Missile Accidentally Struck Mexico - Athena Flight #122 [English Audio]
31US Missile History during the Cold War is quite expansive, due to a frenzy of activity during that time. However, today's discussion is around an incident that's little discussed despite being potentially problematic for international relations. This is the history of the Athena Missile Flight #122, which overshot its destination and landed in the Mapimi Desert in Mexico.
This is the story of the conditions leading up to the failed launch, the political environment in which it occurred, and of the clean up and cooperation between the US and Mexican governments. As is usual with the channel, there's also an element of the strange and bizarre in this story; a tale of an area of the Mapimi Desert with stories that rival the Bermuda Triangle. This is the zona de silencio, or Mapimi Silent Zone. The history of strange events and tourism of the Silent Zone is almost inextricably linked to the launch of the Athena missile and the cleanup which must have seemed highly mysterious to the locals who saw the workers arrive in unmarked transport donning hazmat suits.
I truly hope you enjoy this video essay/mini documentary about the event and learn something interest, but both positive and negative feedback is welcome at all times.
The title, description, and subtitles in this video have been localized in different languages using machine translation. I apologize for any incorrect translations but hope you will find it useful regardless. You can view the original English version by changing your YouTube language setting to English.
Music under license through Epidemic Sound.
Citations and Further Reading:
https://unredacted.com/2015/07/13/usaf-accidentally-launched-rocket-into-mexicos-mapimi-desert-45-years-ago/
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19700804&id=ZclOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wgEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3586,4256164&hl=en
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb249/doc06.pdf
https://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/mexicohit.pdf
https://history.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/UHQ-The-Athena-That-Got-Away.pdf
http://www.wsmrhistoric.com/About
https://wsmrmuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2009-08.pdf
https://wsmrmuseum.com/wsmr-historical-foundation-hall-of-fame/13/
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/exploring-mexicos-zone-of-silence-where-radio-signals-fail-and-meteorites-crash
https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/historyculture/white-sands-missile-range.htm
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zona-del-Silencio.jpg
00:00 Intro
00:51 Athena Missile Launch #122
01:45 The Launch Goes Wrong
04:30 The Gang Arrives in Mexico
06:24 Operation Sand Patch
10:17 Missile Launch Test History and Risks
11:45 Mapimi Silent Zone
13:10 Sources and Acknowledgements
13:56 Closing Statements