U.S. had plans to nuke the moon
By Brian Todd and Dugald McConnell
You could easily skip by it in an archive search: a project titled "A Study of Lunar Research Flights." Its nickname is even more low-brow: "Project A-119."
But the reality was much more explosive.
It was a top-secret plan, developed by the U.S. Air Force, to look at the possibility of detonating a nuclear device on the moon.
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 physicist Leonard Reiffel, who led the project.
Reiffel, now 85, spoke to CNN at his home in Chicago. A 1959 report Reiffel wrote on the project, declassified many years ago, was obtained online by CNN.
According to Reiffel's report, "The motivation for such a detonation is clearly threefold: scientific, military and political."
The military considerations were frightening. The report said a nuclear detonation on the moon could yield information "...concerning the capability of nuclear weapons for space warfare." Reiffel said that in military circles at the time, there was "discussion of the moon as military high ground."
That included talk of having nuclear launch sites on the moon, he said. The thinking, according to Reiffel, was that if the Soviets hit the United States with nuclear weapons first and wiped out the U.S. ability to strike back, the U.S. could launch warheads from the moon.
"These are horrendous concepts," Reiffel said, "and they are hopefully going to remain in the realm of science fiction for the rest of eternity."
The basic plan, Reiffel explained, was for an intercontinental ballistic missile to be launched from an undisclosed location, travel some 240,000 miles to the moon, and detonate on impact. Various news reports since 1958 have said project leaders considered using an atom bomb the same size as "Little Boy," the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of World War II.
Reiffel, who was cited for that information in those reports, now says he wasn't in on those discussions.
Contrary to some reports, Reiffel told CNN, the device would not have "blown up" the moon. "Absolutely not. It would have been microscopic, so to speak. It would have been, I think, essentially invisible from the Earth, even with a good telescope."
Reiffel had some brilliant minds on his team. One of them was an up-and-coming graduate student named Carl Sagan. Sagan went on to become one of the world's most renowned astronomers, creating the book and popular TV series "Cosmos."
But after working on the moon program, Reiffel said, Sagan violated security when he mentioned the still-classified project on a job application. "He did formally break the classification status of the project", Reiffel said of Sagan, who subsequently died in 1996.
Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, told CNN she's not sure if Sagan ever broke the classification, but if he did, she said, it wasn't intentional. "I can't imagine he would have done that knowingly," Druyan said.
By 1959, Project A-119 was drawing more concern than excitement.
"We didn't want to clutter up the natural radioactivities of the moon with additional bits of radioactivity from the Earth," Reiffel said. The project was abandoned.
Project planners also weren't sure of the reliability of the weapons, and feared the public backlash in the U.S. would be significant," Reiffel said.
"It disappeared in the files of the Pentagon", he said of the project. "They come up with what I believe was the right answer."
Contacted by CNN, the Air Force would not comment on Project A-119.
@natlsecuritycnn on Twitter
Don't forget about the 900+ nuclear weapons the United Stated detonated on EARTH.
This is why we need to cut DOD spending in half! If they got enough money to spare a nuke to throw at the moon than they can afford a cut. Plus, I know of a huge U.S debt that needs to be paid. I would like to meet the "beautiful mind" that came up with this idea in the first place! We need to put that person out of a job...
ike warned us about guys like reagan
wake up America, not be too silly, it is sham.
ummm....missed the 50+ years ago part of the story?
For God sake why can't they just nuke themselves!
It's always fun to see someone hating America, while on an American news site and completely dependent on technologies developed by America. You're a fool.
Sounds like a bad idea, chief. signed Maxwell
It's April 1 already?
If I went to the moon and got all blasted while driving the moonrover could I still get a DUI?
She said blasted.
Why not.
Ok America,
now are you ready to admit YOUR the crazy one?
We are insane like most other nations. We just have our own unique flavors.
OK PassiveAggressive but only if you admit that you don't know the difference between "your" and "you're"....
They're are many people who believe there own grammer is correct. Their should knot bee grammer Natsis like youreshelf running rampent amok in comment secsion. I am a school teahcer in english. You sir, are, very; wrong. Good knight sir!
I don't know. I think it shows our overwhelming restraint and benevolence. After all, how many other nations planned to blow up the moon, only to find the strength of will to refrain from doing so? Maybe Latveria? Other than that, though, only the USA has come up with a plan to nuke the moon and then seen the wisdom of not doing it.
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
They were aiming for the decipticon!
i'm glad to know this. it feels so much better to know that real priorities were considered in the good old days, as opposed to now when all people want to talk about is taking care of the homeless and feed the poor and educate children. what a waste of time when we could be nuking the moon. of course, now that the cat is out of the bag, the republicans are going to say, Yeah, and Obama doesn't even want to nuke the moon! That's because his birth certificate is fake and he was born on the moon and still has relatives there. Gosh. Compared to these GOP fanatics and evangelical reactionaries, nuking the moon is beginning to sound good. I'm going into the T shirt business with the slogan. Just wait and see. And you bad nasty ruskies, watch out. We're going to make a good old american splash! It's called the trickle down nuke the moon theory, where the haves take out their hand held weapons and trickle down on the rest of us. But, heck, gosh, gee, it's the good OLD american way.
At least you understand that other concepts, besides those you believe in, are credible.
Or you just spewed a bunch of BS democratic talking points.
Don't even get me started on the sheer scientific stupidity of that movie... I only watched it because it was free on streaming and couldn't get more than about 15 minutes in before I wanted to claw my eyeballs out–most of it from the terrible, terrible science that most 6th graders would call out as being off.
"Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colors from our sight
Red is grey and yellow white
So a nuclear fuse we will light"
It was a weird time to be a kid. I was pretty excited when my dad thought about installing a fall-out shelter in the back yard. He never did but I still have the schematic plans he got from the Civil Defense office.
Admittedly, we were just past 2 wars (WW2 and Korea) but there was an air of blase' acceptance that a commie H-bomb could come crashing down at any time. I grew up about 15 miles from Ft Knox and the neighborhood boys were proud to think that the gold vault would surely be an important target. Very odd to imagine now.
Goldfinger didn't think so, did he?
Since you brought it up, they shot a few 2nd unit scenes for that movie around the area and in unrestricted parts of the base. No movie stars or anything but pretty exciting stuff for a Kentucky boy, and lot less destructive than a nuke.
Yep, I remember the "duck and cover" drills at school. As though your desk would protect you from nuclear incineration.
I guess they felt obligated to do something. Did you live in one of the little towns where they ran the air raid siren at 12 noon every day? My dog absolutely hated that.
Ummm... I think you mean the four "D's": duck, dodge, dip...and.....dodge... well whatever, you're still wrong
Hey, it had a cartoon duck (sometimes turtle?) mascot and if it didn't really work would they really have gone through all that trouble to brand it with a cartoon?
I'm "slightly" younger than that and still find it surreal to think back to growing up mentally prepared for instant incineration with little to no notice. And that was the preferred option when discussing it with friends. Who would want to survive (for however long) an all out nuke fest. And people wonder why we were the "me" generation. Live for the day seemed reasonable then.
It's been a long time but as kids I think we had it in mind that we'd be just fine. We'd climb out of the basement, dad would make us clean up the yard, mom would put together some sandwiches and we'd get a break from school for a few days.
My parents never actually talked about it and the PSAs on TV about fall-out and atomic attacks were tripe. There's a hilarious docu-movie called "Atomic Cafe", if you haven't seen it will really leave you shaking your head but there's some good laughs. Ignorance truly can be bliss.
Yeah, I grew up slightly later when the population had pretty much accepted that a nuclear war was pretty much a one-way ticket to extermination. We read "Alas Babylon" and knew it was far too optimistic.
i'm glad to know this. it feels so much better to know that real priorities were considered in the good old days, as opposed to now when all people want to talk about is taking care of the homeless and feed the poor and educate children. what a waste of time when we could be nuking the moon. of course, now that the cat is out of the bag, the republicans are going to say, Yeah, and Obama doesn't even want to nuke the moon! That's because his birth certificate is fake and he was born on the moon and still has relatives there. Gosh. Compared to these GOP fanatics and evangelical reactionaries, nuking the moon is beginning to sound good. I'm going into the T shirt business with the slogan. Just wait and see. And you bad nasty ruskies, watch out. We're going to make a good old american splash! It's called the trickle down nuke the moon theory, where the haves take out their hand held weapons and trickle down on the rest of us. But, heck, gosh, gee, it's the good OLD american way.
Some people at work are just full of hate. Others are nice.
THIS ! I cannot believe.
But then again, Americans involved, no limit to stupidity!
Hey we elected Obama twice! Talk about stupidity!
No! YOU voted for Obama twice.
Go with the flow mitt was a much better option
We also let the most ignorant segment of our population take control of the once great Republican party. How stupid was THAT?
When the moon hits your eye
Like a big pizza pie,
Let's a nuke it
by far, the funniest thing i've ever read on the internet.
I always wanted to blow up the moon, before a real bad guy... like from a Bond movie does it first.
That way I'll at least leave a legacy. Being the guy who blew up the moon.
You wouldn't have a legacy because blowing up the moon would throw us off orbit and we'd all be dead.
Probably there was this plan...but after Ike was warned by the "Visitors" that we were not alone and to stop "f...ing" around he gave up the idea. This plan looked even more stupid after life was confirmed on the Moon, with pictures, carefully blurred and manipulated by NASA showed "structures " and "funny objects". This facts where even more confirmed when Jim Lovell at the Apollo VIII came back with the following code sentence ""Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus" after going around the Moon to explain that the dark side is populated. This wall of secrets is collapsing...Disclosure Now.
Turns out Santa is Russian according to the carefully placed secret message in a recent "children's" movie I saw. Makes you kinda wonder, huh?
Hoaxers: the only thing more infuriating than Truthers.
Is this a slow day? Does the writers just Google anything and write a story? This is OLD news, and was REPORTED in May 4 2000 by Leonard Reiffel who was with Exelar Corporation at the time and at the time of the story, it was classified. Just google the darn thing....
And still the moon stares at me through my window. Oh how I swear to one day wipe that stupid grin off your face.
Two weeks ago,talk of Government plans to "nuke the moon" would have been trivialized as a "conspiracy theory". But since mainstream media now reports on it, it is considered valid news. How many other "conspiracy theories" are actually truths? By the way, do you know who the first person was to use the term "conspiracy theory"? It was none other than Adolf Hitler who would say "Do not believe wild conspiracy theories that say us Nazis are killing Jews in concentration camps". And we all know how that turned out, right? Wake up, people!.
*yawn* *stretch* ... *snore*
People like Mark in Fla allowed the Nazis to rise to power. They are the ruination of a country, USA is the next tyranny.
Shhhh.... It's getting late and you forgot to take your meds.....
the u.s goverment knows that there is some sort intelligent life form on the moon reason.. the wanted to destroy or kill where these life form was.....
Wow, Interestin & Crazy Scary @ The Same Time, I'm Baffled??!! Lord Help Us & 4Give Us @ The Sametime In Jesus Name!!
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” – Christopher Hitchens
Tests conducted in space on the far side of the Moon are an obvious (if expensive) response to the Atmospheric Test Ban Treaty. No seismographs to worry about if you're building something dodgy. Even if nobody's tried it, it wouldn't be surprising to learn that several countries have gamma ray detectors floating around in halo orbits.
Yeah, they'd be so hard to detect even WE couldn't measure them...
It is a well known fact that more recently Barney Frank had plans to nuke Uranus...
He's always attacking Uranus.
why do i have the feeling that you are a terrible bore at a party, or pretty much anywhere?
oh, right. of course. why didn't I think of it before. It's because you are.
Really? REALLY? I would like to hear more from your, you 8 year old stuck up child.
Nothing surprising here. Its just the ol american craziness at work as usual. Americans who as usual are the bad guys of the world.
It is only in recent years the name of the United States has been smeared, try being involved in four wars/dilemmas on three continents and not be seen as a bad guy by someone. We have done wrong, but we are still a valiant great nation that welcomes the abused with open arms. Somewhere in our core we still have a portion of our old traditions and values. Our soldiers have always been great devoted men/women risking their lives for the west honourably. We may have done wrong occasionally, but we are still an amazing nation.
We were attacked in case you missed that.
By Iraq?
And now, almost 65 years years later, can we _please_ stop malingering and destroy the moon already?
yet many still believe men landed on the moon....lol, so typical
And some people even believe that intelligent beings will be discovered on the Internet one day.
You can see the foot prints and the flag if you get your head out of your ass.
We did.
Trolling, right? Please be trolling...
and people scorn us because we up hold the ten commandments, and put our eternal well being in the hands of the lord,
At least six of the ten commandments are completely unconst.itutional and will never be law here.
Don't include me in your delusions.
Maybe if people that call themselves religious actually lived by the ten commandments instead of just holding them up, you wouldn't feel so scorned.
“I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.” – Douglas Adams
sick americans sick with military madness ... and they are still with us ... USA is sick with militarism, guns, killing, power, obsessed with making the world our at any cost. .... sick
If I recall correctly, the moon is very slowly pulling away from the Earth, so perhaps someone will consider an explosion on the other side to halt that.
wouldn't work
you know gary...take off the "R"..... loooooooolllolololoooooooooll
Hahahahahaha.....that's so cute, Bruse Willis!!! That's like some " Armageddon " like stuff.
Why should we care?
2 words: MARS ROVER
nicely played NASA...nicely played
All of these space stories in the MSM are to condition you to accept the extraterrestrial hypothesis, which is a reality all must face. Please check out Project Camelot, base on Mars, moon anomalies, Project Blue Beam, Project Pegasus, and other such subjects on your favorite search engine. Also, get ready for the Mars discovery press conference late next week.
They discovered Mars? I hadn't heard. I'll definitely tune into the press conference!
F in sweet!
The "trick" in all of this is to figure out what aspects of our current national ambitions will appear equally ludicrous when viewed in retrospect several decades from now. Could be anything...fracking?
Gingrich's Moon base?
So once again we find out more about man and his stupid plots to destroy not just every living creature on earth.. But Hey.. Lets also muck up the moon..
This story seriously, is depressing..
Are you seriously trying to imply that the detonation of a nuke on the moon's surface in 1958 would have destroyed it?
Jeez, you people are clueless. It would have changed NOTHING – the moon is not protected by any electromagnetic fields (so it is sizzling with solar radiation already), there is no life to harm, and two nukes of the same size didn't even destroy an island in the pacific... The moon wouldn't even have noticed – nor would we have.
Story is a nice example of the type of bizarre thinking that sometimes occurs when all the discussions are conducted in secret.
Frankly, this plan is far less bizarre than many that were publicly debated in that era. The only crazy idea that actually made sense in a very sick twisted way was MAD. It worked (we're still here, through a lot of luck and MAD) and it eventually bankrupted the USSR.
Can't wait for the movie.
I think it is time we started rounding up Chinamen.
The Russians still had the horrors of the Great Patriotic War fresh on their minds. A light show on the moon would not have fazed them in the slightest.
Nuke the Gay Baby Whales.
The gov will never reveal the truth about our moon. Those Apollo mission were only for show. What we need is full disclosure about the real situation with this planet.
Let me guess – the moon was in on the conspiracy to forge Barack Obama's birth certificate...
if you can get to dallas/ft. wrth area and have your scripts transferred to a pharmacy here. i'll gladly meet you and pay for them.....
Too funny...LOL
So you were thrown off by the nonsense online about the flag held up by a rod and still swinging back and forth, etc.? Do you really think that they could have duped all of the 5000 people at mission control? YOU have been duped by conspiracy theorists who cherry pick their data in hopes of convincing a few people who are not willing to dig into the facts.
Well I see this was before the Space Exploration treaty which banned the militirazation of space.
Either way it was one of those many military plans that later just comes up with no need to or to much of a hassel.
Big deal the Russians had the same idea in the late 60's
I was not impressed by your comment at all! GOOD DAY SIR!!!!!
I don't know why this is news now. I was born in 1951, remember sputnik, and knew about these plans I was a child. I had always assumed it was called off because it was a dumb idea. Just like the idea to build a 600 foot radio telescope to listen in on Soviet radio traffic reflected from the moon
For those of you from that era; I liked Burt the Turtle.
Whoa! Let me stop you right there. If you were born in 1951 you would not be alive today. SO that right there proves you are a liar and anything else you have stated is not credible.
There was a lot of concern about our precious bodily fluids at the time.
Gen Jack D. Ripper is that you?
So it isn't enough we use our weapons race to destroy valuable cultures on earth, but we honestly considered testing nuclear weapons on our moon!?
nope, the idea was to nuke Moon and make it inhabitable for Russians, just in case they figured out to live on planet without air
Name a "valuable" culture that we destroyed?
Jeez guys, relax. Planning departments for all branches of the military spend millions of man-hours planning for every possible contingency. This one would have been thought out, planned, and then filed in the "not bloody likely" cabinet.
Man is not content to foul his own nest he has to foul up others. At least this time they did not.
Whose nest might that be? Moonbirds?
You're mocking Margaret's very sensible comment? You're actually defending the notion of nuking the moon!?! I sincerely hope nowhere on this world do you have any significant control over... anything.
Well, "others" does beg the question of "who are they?"
Hey Maggie, methinkest you may be foul in the nether regions, eh?
yea good thing they never went with that horrific plan and developed MIRVs, SLBMs, ICBMs, and kinetic bombardment instead.
this isn't news, its fairly common history
Send a bunch ...and dig a cavern , although neutron missiles might be a better choice.
at first I thought I was reading Fox News!
Upon receiving his fourth star in 1951 at age 44, Gen. Curtis E. LeMay became the youngest four-star general in American history since Ulysses S. Grant and was the youngest four-star general in modern history as well as the longest serving in that rank. Gen. LeMay was appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force in July 1957, serving until 1961, when he was made the fifth Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force on the retirement of Gen Thomas White. His belief in the efficacy of strategic air campaigns over tactical strikes and ground support operations became Air Force policy during his tenure as chief of staff.
As chief of staff, Gen. LeMay clashed repeatedly with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Air Force Secretary Eugene Zuckert, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Maxwell Taylor. Though Gen. LeMay lost significant appropriation battles, he was largely successful at expanding Air Force budgets. He advocated the introduction of satellite technology and pushed for the development of the latest electronic warfare techniques. By contrast, the U.S. Army and Navy frequently suffered budgetary cutbacks and program cancellations by Congress and Secretary McNamara. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, LeMay clashed again with U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Defense Secretary McNamara, arguing that he should be allowed to bomb nuclear missile sites in Cuba.
Col Jack Ripper (Dr Strangelove). Curtis LeMay once considered vice-presidential running mate. Glad his plan for bombing missile sites in Cuba did not come about. Would have led to possible nuclear exchange with Soviets and we would all be back in the stone age (at least the survivors would) and Curtis and buddies would be safely esconched in their bomb shelters plotting their next escapade. Crackpot. Beware the Military Industrial Complex....Dwight D. Eisenhower.
If I am not mistaken this was the idea of or based on the idea of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man credited for being among other things the head of the brain trust behind the Manhattan Project. The guy was brilliant but he was out of his mind. He had all sorts of ideas that involved using nukes, among them was yes, to nuke the moon to collect samples of lunar soil for study. The man was one of the men who gave us the Atomic Age, but he also lost his damn mind and was full of awful ideas.
You are probably mistaking Oppenheimer for Edward Teller. Oppenheimer was removed from the Nuclear program in early fifties as a target of Mccarthyism for his pro-leftist history.
Awww...Newt won't get his nuclear launch moon base either.
They should put a nuke under their pillow and go to sleep with the detonator in their hand.
Goodnight Moon
*shakes head*
You boys put your nukes away and come in for supper. Boys and their toys.
Uh, guys....One nuke wouldn't do anything to the moon. Have you seen the crators all around it? It can take quite the punch this was mostly to show the Russians "We can launch space junk too!"
Why bother with space junk? just show them your junk. They would have backed down for sure.
so basically, the law not allow any nuke test on earth after the cold war, their heart and hands feeling itchy and try to nuke the moon? why these ppl like to see destruction on other things, what will this nuke the moon project will benefit people on earth? to show America able to nuke moon? to start another cold war, or WW3 or WAR? Please spend more money on research energy replacement for petrol and nuke power plant.
Uh...they did scrap it. This was from the 1950s, please read again.
I think someone nuked your reading skills.
Can't read nor write. Let me venture a guess your from......... Uhhh Russia??
LOL
theoretical scientists, because had a rocket been successfully launched? and finally, do you remember all those launches than didnt take off but crashed back down in the area of the launch? LOL nuke yourself? omg no wonder sagan went into tv- fiction
Huh? What do you mean "TV fiction"? Cosmos was about astronomy.
Arm it when you get close.
Incredible, because when I was in junior high school, we were discussing nuclear testing and I suggested that to avoid the fallout on earth that we should test on the moon. I was laughed at because Sputnik I had not gone up yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time...I feel vindicated...
are you serious?? blowing up the moon would in turn pretty much destroy earth as we know. it plays a huge role in our existence. i cannot believe they even thought about this!!
One nuke on the moon would have no effect on earth except to have a "fuzzy" moon for a few years as the dust settles.
...not even fuzzy. As article noted it would probably have no visibility from Earth.
How small do people think the moon is anyway? It's a quarter the size of earth. A baby nuke like Big boy would be like a friendly punch on the arm to the moon
A nuke would not have done much to the moon.
Now if we had the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, that would be a different story.
Not "blow up the moon", silly. Detonate warheads on the Moon. Big difference.
What would we do without those tides?
There are plans out there for all sorts of ridiculous things. Alien invasions, asteroids. All it takes to get a possible plan looked at is some guy with a high enough rank saying "Hey, what if..."
There are probably plans out there, especially from the '50s, about using those weapons on an America city in rebellion, or to stop an epidemic. Folks have drawn up, and continue to draw up, all sorts of crazy plans. This may be one of the sillier ones, but the fact that it exists isn't really much in the way of news.
Yeah, Bristol idea!...All it would been is a big thud without an oxygen atmosphere anyway.
Man, the most intelligent specie on Earth.
It might make a pretty light though , if only for an instant.
A nuke ain't gunpowder. Oxygen is not of importance.
I'm sitting here torn between relief and disbelief. What a horrible idea!
How many of these genius plans have been concocted? How many have been enacted in secret and now weird stuff is happening as a result? This is enough to make a person very, very paranoid.
How many have been conceived? Countless thousands. How many have been enacted? Vansihingly few. How many are now resulting in "weird stuff"? Probably none. What sort of "weird stuff" do you think is happening?
Should it make you paranoid that people with imagination are thinking of absurd things that then get written down and filed away? If you think so then you were already paranoid.
Just think a moment. We are just a species in the grand scheme of things that just happens. Were we to implode ourselves, no intelligent beng would take notice. Probably nothing would be noticed. We, as a sub-species, with little mental capabilities, think we're the greatest thing since GOD, however, we live at most, 100 years. That not even a blink of an eye of time if you consider how long this planet has been circling this lessor sun in the huge cosmos. Some like to imagine themselves as all important but no one is any better than anybody else. We all arrived here the same way and we'll all eventually die. Believe it or not, it's true.
LOL now wouldint THAT be a interesting news forcast ..(that is if we lived the moon crashing into the earth to Watch the news lol..:O..) and quite imbaressing lol.. The world would all be like yeahhh uhh that americaa uhmmm i think they jst blew up the uhhhmm moon now? Instead of IRAK LOL now theyre out to get space???:D ..and im sure they would be laughing there butts off if this were to happen today ..sad:p.
Re-read...it would be a small nuke with no where near the power as some metors that have crashed into it.
"the public backlash.....would have been significant" Gee! Do you think? Sad to see that nothing has changed in Washington. You can bet that they are still pis*ing away billions on hare-brained schemes like this.
Anybody else out there read FrankJ over at IMAO? One of his most popular blog entries was from about 10 years ago, and it had to do with achieving World Peace through Nuking The Moon.
eh... its made of cheese, it would just turn into a nice glop of tasty mess... food for the stranots
Attach a loaf of bread to the warhead i suppose. Grill cheese anyone?
Nachos...
Some good can come out of this, the end to world hunger.
Incredibly stupid. As the most warlike nation on Earth we must fear and control our own capabilities for evil.
What gall! How dare they even think of militarizing the moon. The moon doesn't belong to any one country.
That's completely foreign thinking to the 1950s. Remember, the major powers just got through carving up the world.
Except Antartica , who wants to rule penguins?
Maybe there is some truth to that Apollo 18 movie after all!!! Aliens I tell ya!
Nukes are useless with out an atmosphere.
All you get is a bright flash of light; no blast.
Two words
Starfish Prime
The moon remains a threat to our vital interests. We should have nuked it years ago. If you need me I will be out back in the shelter cleaning my guns.
'Merica!
ya right, like US was expert in pin-point strike after launching nuke missiles from Moon, morons
Without the moon, Earth as we know it would not exist.
Who's the idiot that thought of this?
Pass the word along...tell the men, it's time to shoot the moon.
SHOOT THE MOOON!!
NOOO...on the radio you idiot!!!
I don't get it....Please explain......
It's a line from Up in Smoke.
LOL My luck in hearts is so bad I am actually able to pull that one off!
While reading this article, I seriously COULD NOT get the image of Vault-Tec and Vault Boy out of my head. This whole thing reads like it should be in a Fallout game.
Gee...I could see this stupid country blowing up the moon and some chunk of the moon that quite probably could have been the size of a small country would hurdle towards the Earth and destroy us all.
What a great plan there U.S.!!
What a bunch of idiots.
Gotta bomb something. Little boys playing with atomic bombs.
If the moon ever split, it would lose its orbit and pieces would be sure to crash on earth and destroy many things and people. Are there no checks and balances to rein in lunatics who would even think about this stuff ? Scary.
What? Total amount of force to do such a thing would be insurmountable. I'd be willing to bet we couldn't take on such a thing these days. Besides that, if we could split or blow up the moon we might get a shower of devastating moon rocks, but we would more than likely form a ring of crap orbiting earth. Beyond that, say goodby to the 24 hour days and tidal forces.
This idea to nuke the moon was as lame-brain as the actual practice of exposing some U.S. troops to atomic detonations at a supposedly "safe" distance in the desert and also ordering troops to walk into areas where a nuclear detonation had taken place a short time before.
Atomic..
There was also talk of using nukes to blast a canyon through the Sierra Madres and diverting the Colorado river into southern California during the late 50's. So much for the best(?) laid plans of mice and morons...
and there were plans to use nukes to dig a second panama canal, among other things.
Operation Plowshare. Constructive nuclear explosives. 🙁
aka PNE
First comment
Fascinating how mankind can dream up new ways of killing each other, yet we still suffer from curable ills such as famine, drinkable water, and all the handicap parking spaces so close to the McDonalds entrance. Can Grimace get a break?
Romney would have tried to revive this project if he had been elected.
embarrassing
.. And how would you know that. Are you Mitt Romney. From my side of the coin, I don't think so.
Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the Moon.
Can anyone blame us? Just look at it, taunting us with its phases. ;_;
Look out moon America's gonna get ya gonna go ka-boom was nice to have met ya...cause you don't mess around WITH GOD'S AMERICAAAAA
We're spending so much money, millions of dollars to blow up the moon, when there's so much to blow up right here on earth; Mount Everest, the North Pole, etc. We're Earthlings, let's blow up Earth Things.
"Shoot the Moon!
crazy stuff.
Seem to recall reading about this many years ago
What sick person would come up with an idea like that..??
Gen. Curtis E. LeMay (at the time 4-Star Air Force General, Later 5-Star Air Force General, and Vice Presidential Candidate with George Wallace during Vietnam).
Above Mr. @soaponapope says:
If I am not mistaken this was the idea of or based on the idea of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man credited for being among other things the head of the brain trust behind the Manhattan Project. The guy was brilliant but he was out of his mind. He had all sorts of ideas that involved using nukes, among them was yes, to nuke the moon to collect samples of lunar soil for study. The man was one of the men who gave us the Atomic Age, but he also lost his damn mind and was full of awful ideas.
Your friends at the pentagon.
I know but I can't tell you, it's classified.
Sick is harsh. This was a time where the slightest blink of weakness would have probably plunged the world in World War 3 and oblivion. This kind of unwavering determination is a necessary evil in such a dark shadow. We've become so numb to war today because the fear of losing is gone. Back then... winning a war against the Soviet Union was anything but.