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It may sound like a plot straight out of a science fiction novel, but a U.S. mission to blow up the moon
with a nuke was very real in the 1950s.
At the height of the space race, the U.S. considered detonating an atom bomb on the moon as a display
of America's Cold War muscle.
The secret project, innocuously titled 'A Study of Lunar Research Flights' and nicknamed 'Project A119,'
was never carried out.
<a href="http://s1267.beta.photobucket.com/user/365Wildfire/library/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/frm00002-76.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>
However, its planning included calculations by astronomer Carl Sagan, then a young graduate student, of
the behavior of dust and gas generated by the blast.
Viewing the nuclear flash from Earth might have intimidated the Soviet Union and boosted U.S. confidence
after the launch of Sputnik, physicist Leonard Reiffel told the AP in a 2000 interview.
Under the scenario, a missile carrying a small nuclear device was to be launched from an undisclosed location
and travel 238,000 miles to the moon, where it would be detonated upon impact.
<a href="http://s1267.beta.photobucket.com/user/365Wildfire/library/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/frm00003-60.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>
The planners decided it would have to be an atom bomb because a hydrogen bomb would have been too
heavy for the missile.
Military officials apparently abandoned the idea because of the danger to people on Earth in case the mission
failed.
When contacted by the AP, the U.S. Air Force declined to comment on the project.
with a nuke was very real in the 1950s.
At the height of the space race, the U.S. considered detonating an atom bomb on the moon as a display
of America's Cold War muscle.
The secret project, innocuously titled 'A Study of Lunar Research Flights' and nicknamed 'Project A119,'
was never carried out.
<a href="http://s1267.beta.photobucket.com/user/365Wildfire/library/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/frm00002-76.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>
However, its planning included calculations by astronomer Carl Sagan, then a young graduate student, of
the behavior of dust and gas generated by the blast.
Viewing the nuclear flash from Earth might have intimidated the Soviet Union and boosted U.S. confidence
after the launch of Sputnik, physicist Leonard Reiffel told the AP in a 2000 interview.
Under the scenario, a missile carrying a small nuclear device was to be launched from an undisclosed location
and travel 238,000 miles to the moon, where it would be detonated upon impact.
<a href="http://s1267.beta.photobucket.com/user/365Wildfire/library/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/frm00003-60.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>
The planners decided it would have to be an atom bomb because a hydrogen bomb would have been too
heavy for the missile.
Military officials apparently abandoned the idea because of the danger to people on Earth in case the mission
failed.
When contacted by the AP, the U.S. Air Force declined to comment on the project.
