Variety

US planned to nuke the moon in 1950s: A new book claims

Prashasti Awasth Mumbai | Updated on June 24, 2020 Published on June 24, 2020

 

A new book called Secrets From the Black Vault by John Greenwald, Jr. made an exiting revelation about the United States’ intention for the moon. The book stated that during the space race between the two countries, which was won by the US when the Apollo missions landed on the surface of the Moon, the US had proposed to nuke the moon which could demonstrate its prowess to the rest of the world, BGR reported.

In 1959, when the Soviet Union was leading the race to space with its Sputnik 1, the US wanted to respond in an aggressive way to show its potential to the world.

It had planned to nuke the Moon if the Soviet Union would have used it for strategic and military purposes to have the upper hand over the US and claimed world domination.

Other memos the book mentioned was the proposal made to establish a permanent base on the Moon, noting that if such a facility “can be established first by the United States, the prestige and psychological advantage to the nation will be invaluable.”

The plan, called Project Horizon, would have called for dozens of Saturn 5 rocket launches to the lunar surface to deliver materials to build the base. The proposal suggested it could be built and house a colony of up to 20 people by 1966, BGR report added.

However, the plan to bomb the Moon never got materialized as the US reached the moon first. A separate document addressing the plan suggested it could become an “unparalleled scientific disaster,” so that might have helped sway the powers that be.

Published on June 24, 2020

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