In a space vehicle or a missile system, two sections are sometimes connected together in such a way that a pyrotechnic device is incorporated, either continuously along a circumference or at several discrete locations. At a specific and controlled instant, the pyrotechnic charge is fired and the vehicular sections are separated. The initial forces of separation are explosive in nature. Because the time interval is extremely short, being microseconds in duration, a shock phenomenon is invariably created. The magnitude of this shock is usually quite difficult to measure. Often times, accelerometers are located near the interfaces to serve as transducers for the observation of the same phenomenon. The accelerometer outputs are, however, not always congruent with the original pressure rise. Even though the results are transformed in shock‐spectrum terms, the true shock‐impulse history is seldom reproduced accurately. However, an illustration is given that utilizes the accelerometer outputs at many monitor stations along with the characteristics in the transmitted responses to deduce the initial shock intensity. It is further demonstrated that in complex structures such as space‐system components, the specification based on rigid‐body dynamics of shock may be rendered equally applicable if the transmitted shock is so identified at a selected location.