Project A119 or "A Study of Lunar Research Flights" was a top-secret plan developed in the late 1950s by the United States Air Force with the intention of detonating a nuclear bomb on the moon. It is assumed that the purpose of such an act would demonstrate the superiority of the United States over the Soviet Union and the rest of the world during the Cold War. The details concerning the project came from a retired executive at NASA, Dr. Leonard Reiffel, who led the project in 1958. A young Carl Sagan joined the team responsible for researching the theoretical effects of a nuclear explosion in low gravity.
Project A119 was never carried out, apparently primarily because a moon landing would be a much more acceptable achievement in the eyes of the American population. The project documents remained secret for nearly 45 years and even with Reiffel's revelations at the beginning of the 2000s, the US government has never officially recognized his involvement in the study.
Project A119 was one of several possibilities being investigated in the early days of the space race. In May 1958, the Armour Research Foundation, based at the Illinois Institute of Technology and funded by the United States Army, began covertly researching the consequences of an atomic explosion on the moon. The main objective of the program, which ran under the responsibility of the United States Air Force, was the detonation of a device, nuclear or otherwise, in order to cause an explosion that would be visible from Earth. It was hoped that such a display would boost the morale of the American people, which had been shaken by the advantages gained by the Soviets.
The project was likely influenced by a similar study initiated by the RAND Corporation in 1956, whose results remain secret to this day. A similar idea was also put forward by Edward Teller, the "father of the H-bomb", who in February 1957 proposed the detonation of an atomic device some distance from the lunar surface in order to analyze the effects of the explosion.[
The project was eventually cancelled in January 1959, seemingly out of fear of a possible negative public reaction and the possible risk to the population should anything have gone wrong with the launch. Another factor was the possible implications of the nuclear fallout for future lunar research projects and colonization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_A119
Project A119 was never carried out, apparently primarily because a moon landing would be a much more acceptable achievement in the eyes of the American population. The project documents remained secret for nearly 45 years and even with Reiffel's revelations at the beginning of the 2000s, the US government has never officially recognized his involvement in the study.
Project A119 was one of several possibilities being investigated in the early days of the space race. In May 1958, the Armour Research Foundation, based at the Illinois Institute of Technology and funded by the United States Army, began covertly researching the consequences of an atomic explosion on the moon. The main objective of the program, which ran under the responsibility of the United States Air Force, was the detonation of a device, nuclear or otherwise, in order to cause an explosion that would be visible from Earth. It was hoped that such a display would boost the morale of the American people, which had been shaken by the advantages gained by the Soviets.
The project was likely influenced by a similar study initiated by the RAND Corporation in 1956, whose results remain secret to this day. A similar idea was also put forward by Edward Teller, the "father of the H-bomb", who in February 1957 proposed the detonation of an atomic device some distance from the lunar surface in order to analyze the effects of the explosion.[
The project was eventually cancelled in January 1959, seemingly out of fear of a possible negative public reaction and the possible risk to the population should anything have gone wrong with the launch. Another factor was the possible implications of the nuclear fallout for future lunar research projects and colonization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_A119
