One of the greatest achievements in human history is Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. However, did you know that there perhaps wouldn’t be a Moon to land on if the United States Air Force went through with their plans to nuke it?
In 1958, the United States Air Force developed a top-secret project called Project A119, or A Study of Lunar Research Flights. The main goal of the project was to detonate an atomic bomb on the Moon.
There were several reasons why the U.S. military entertained this idea. The first one was to make the explosion visible with the naked eye from Earth, which they thought would lift the morale of the American people and also show the dominance of the United States.
Additionally, it would mean getting a leg up in the “Space Race” against the Soviet Union. The United States Secret Service got a tip that the Soviets were entertaining an idea to detonate a hydrogen bomb on the Moon, and the U.S. military wanted to beat them to the punch.
Luckily, the project was canceled after one year.
It was concluded that the consequences would be devastating for the Earth’s population if something went wrong. Additionally, there was a possibility that a nuclear detonation would prevent further research on the Moon.