United States Had Plans to Nuke the Moon
By: Austin Rosenberger
A story that surfaced over
a decade ago is making the rounds again this week, as some media outlets are
reporting that the U.S. considered detonating an atomic bomb on the moon in an
effort to intimidate the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.On Sunday, the Daily Mail revived the story, citing a 12-year-old interview with physicist Leonard Reiffel, formerly of the U.S. military-backed Armour Research Foundation and later a deputy director of NASA. Celebrated astronomer Carl Sagan also was said to have been involved with the secret project, which reportedly was known as "A Study of Lunar Research Flights" or "Project A119." For a plan that would seem to be foolish today, it had actually been under serious negotiations in the midst of the Cold War. America has always strived to “one-up” its counterparts and to send this sort of a message to the Russians is huge in terms of Americas technological advances as well as it standing its firm ground to show the world what it means to be a role model country.
It was hatched in 1958 - a time when the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a nuclear arms race that would last decades and drive the two superpowers to the verge of nuclear war. The Soviets had also just launched Sputnik 1, the world's first satellite. The U.S. was falling behind in the space race, and needed a big splash.
People were worried very much by (first human in space Soviet cosmonaut Yuri) Gagarin and Sputnik and the very great accomplishments of the Soviet Union in those days, and in comparison, the United States was feared to be looking puny. So this was a concept to sort of reassure people that the United States could maintain a mutually-assured deterrence, and therefore avoid any huge conflagration on the Earth," said Reiffel.
In the interview, Reiffel reportedly said the plan had been to launch a rocket that would deliver a small nuclear device to the moon's surface, where it would detonate.
The plan reads:
“Nuclear detonations in the vicinity of the moon are considered in this report along with scientific information which might be obtained from such explosions. The military aspect is aided by investigation of space environment, detection of nuclear device testing, and capability of weapons in space. A study was conducted of various theories of the moon's structure and origin, and a description of the probable nature of the lunar surface is given. The areas discussed in some detail are optical lunar studies, seismic observations, lunar surface and magnetic fields, plasma and magneti3 field effects, and organic matter on the moon.”
However in the end military officials abandoned the idea because of the unknown that would ensue the impact of the missile. “One of the craziest things we ever did was develop and deploy nuclear tipped anti-aircraft missiles, plane to plane. That's always seemed like insanity," he said. Once miniaturized nuclear weapons were created, "as all the services wanted their share--so they had to think of some use for these things, and their uses were marginally insane," at least by today's risk-reward standards, he stated. To this day the Air Force will not comment on whether the plan was true or not.
The link below is a video that goes into further detail behind the US plans.
http://www.click2houston.com/news/U-S-had-plans-to-nuke-the-moon/-/1735978/17583356/-/format/rsss_2.0/-/akx7d9z/-/index.html
Sources:
Todd,
Brian, and Dugald McConnell. "U.S. had plans to nuke the moon – CNN
Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs." CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com
Blogs. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.
<http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/28/u-s-had-plans-to-nuke-the-moon/>.
"U.S.
had plans to nuke the moon | National News - KETV Home." Omaha News,
Omaha, Nebraska News, Weather, and Sports, Channel 7 News - KETV Omahas Channel
7. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ketv.com/news/national/U-S-had-plans-to-nuke-the-moon/-/9674576/17583356/-/clbjwl/-/index.html>.
Interesting article, Austin
ReplyDeleteThinking about putting an atomic bomb on the moon just to get back at the Soviets is unnecessary, a waste of money, and completely crazy! It seems like a random idea, but if you think about it, space and all of its technologies have always been more advanced in the soviet era. America always was competing with them to get the first hovers and space ships up in space. Maybe, these crazy Americans who thought of this idea thought it would be a good way of revenge; trying to show them that America is just as powerful. I liked reading your blog because this is such a unique article that relates to the changes and advances in American History.
This is news to me. I never heard that America had plans to destroy the moon in a space race with Russia. It's an interesting thought though because how competitive the two sides were with all the spy planes and what not and how much hatred was in between them. I wouldn't doubt that either side would go to extremes to be the "winner". It would be weird to think that there would be no moon today if that would have happened. Perhaps worse things could have happened as a result and we might not even be where we are today because of it.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting and caught my attention right away. The most absurd part of this article though I believe is the fact that the plan was hatched in 1958, which is the same year that the U.S. launched its first satellite. The reason this is so crazy is because the U.S. just launched it's first satellite, and yet we're already planning on putting a nuclear device to another world? It just goes to show the will and determination of the U.S. in the arms race against the USSR. We will go to extremes, like blowing up the moon, just to get a leg up on our rival. 'MERICA!
ReplyDeleteThat's cool, I guess...
ReplyDeleteI am quite surprised that this even came across as an idea. I wonder what true importance and meaning this had when they were creating this plan of insanity. I think that it may have been a tad of jealousy for the successes of the Soviet Union, but I am not quite sure. This is really cool to hear about because I never knew that anyone even thought of this as a good idea. It is overwhelming as to why such a competition was between both Russia and the United and that we planned to take it as far as destroying the moon. That just sounds like a horrible plan, which is why today we would never think of such a foolish idea for the United States to partake in.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this idea before I read this article so it really shocked me when I heard of this plan. Blowing up the moon sounds completely rediuclous! No one should have the power to destroy a landmark of our world to intimidate another country in a stressful situation. No benefit would have come from this and the only thing that would change would be the increased tension in the Cold War. But I didn't live during the Cold War and I never experienced the fear of Americans. I was never in the presidents shoes and can never imagine his emotions at the time. So I understand that such a rediculous idea may get mentioned because the US was getting desperate, but I'm glad that the project leaders abandoned the plan and chose to solve the war with
ReplyDeletea more practical idea.
I've never heard of this plan before in an article or from anyone else for that fact. I think that it's kind of foolish to try to 1 up another country just because they had sent a satellite into space. It's very scary at the moment thinking about it just for the fact that if we haven't heard much about this, what else haven't we heard about?
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this idea before, but it is interesting, especially to think if parts of it are true. The arms race with the Soviet Union was not good because each country was trying to prove how strong they were. Due to that, I am not surprised that many crazy ideas came up during that time. I still think that world could explode easily with the amount of weapons now readily available, but hitting the moon with them is not something I have ever heard of before. The fact that this was considered does make me question what other things almost happened that we don't know about.
ReplyDeleteI was really surprised to see this is the heading of your article, because I never heard of it before! I thought this was pretty scary and really ridiculous.Also it's scary to think that tensions between the two countries rose so much, that they actually considered doing this. Obviously the Americans that thought this would show how powerful our technologies of that era were, didn't realize the affects of that plan.
ReplyDeleteThis plan definitely seemed insane when you look back on it 40-50 years from today. The repercussions both naturally and socially would be severe to the whole world. But in those technologically desperate times, the US were looking for something to outshine the Soviet Union. Even so the idea of nuking the moon is ludicrous, nowhere near worth the trouble it would cause for the publicity stunt.
ReplyDeleteNuke the moon? Why would anyone want to or decide this is a right thing to do? just to One-Up some rival country? None of the other country's on this planted even thought about blowing up the moon... American is a twisted country.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is true at all, there would be no point to nuke the moon. The moon gives us light at night and without that it would be pitch black at night. So really to me this would make no sense and if it does happen then I guess i can't do anything about it.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad that they didn’t go with this plan because if they did, we might not be here today. Think about it: if we sent a nuclear device to the moon and detonated it, the Soviet Union would’ve wanted to prove that they were just as capable in technology as the U.S. and want to surpass them. How would this have affected the Cuban Missile Crisis?
ReplyDeleteI've read about this before but did not think it was true! Imagine how different the world would be today. At night it would be so dark and cold! Also wouldn't radioactive debris fall to the earth. Causing the atmosphere to be defective or even acid rain? This article proves that the government plans things in secret which could jeopardize its citizens. If they were willing to send a nuclear bomb at the moon as if America owns the universe and can just destroy anything they want, obviously that shows how much you matter. If you are a government official you would be in a bomb shelter while we would be in our basement.
ReplyDeleteWhat would a nuked moon look like today at night? I understand that they wanted to "get back" at the soviets for getting into space first, but this just seems unethical. Think of the problems of nuking the moon; would we be hit with nuclear radiation? If pieces broke off, would the pieces hit the earth or other planets? Would the moon be offset with its rotation with the Earth (Highly unlikely)? I'm glad they didn't nuke the moon, because this may have amped up the Cold War, the soviets probably would nuke some other planet like Mars just to 1 up them, it is not just the environmental problems of nuking a moon, but the feedback you would get from other countries wondering what you were doing.
ReplyDelete-Bradley Kern
I think it was a good idea to not nuke the moon because it wouldn't have really proved too much. The soviet union also had nuclear missiles so they probably could have done the same thing. It wouldn't have proved anything because the U.S. would have still been behind technology wise even had they blown up the moon. The soviet union probably would have just nuked something else to prove that they were just as strong.
ReplyDeleteI think if they went through with this that for those who like to look up at the stars at night and see the moon it would be tragic thing to look at. It would hurt knowing that the government can just do whatever they want and take that sight away from America but also the billions of people on earth, and the government should not be able to have that power at all.
ReplyDelete