During the Cold War the United States considered lanching and detonating a nuclear bomb on the Moon.
The plan was aimed at intimidating the Soviets by putting on a decisive display of America's muscle. Tentatively named "A Study of Lunar Research Flights", the project would have seen a missile carrying a nuclear device being launched from an undetermined location and travelling 238,000 miles to the moon where it would have impacted and exploded on the surface. A young Carl Sagan ( who was only a graduate student at the time ) was involved in calculating the dust and gas generated by the explosion.
Ultimately however the plan was scrapped, mainly due to the risks posed in the event of a failure and because there was concerns over contaminating the Moon with radioactive material.
"At the height of the space race, the US considered detonating an atom bomb on the moon as a display of America's Cold War muscle."
View: Full article | Source: Yahoo! News
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