How The US Planned To Blow Up The Moon To Win The Cold War

When word came out that the U.S. likely tested toxic aerosols on unsuspecting Missourians during the Cold War, it was hard to imagine the period offering up any stranger scenarios, but it has.

Asian News International reports the U.S. had plans to blow up the moon with a nuclear bomb as late as the 1950s.

From ANI:

At the height of the space race, the U.S. considered detonating an atom bomb on the moon as a display of America's Cold War muscle. The secret project, named 'A Study of Lunar Research Flights' and nicknamed 'Project A119,' however was never carried out.

America's planning included calculations by astronomer Carl Sagan, then a young graduate student, of the behavior of dust and gas generated by the blast. According to the report, viewing the nuclear flash from Earth might have intimidated the Soviet Union and boosted U.S. confidence after the launch of Sputnik, physicist Leonard Reiffel said.

The American atom bomb was intended to be sent 238,000 to the moon where it would detonate upon impact, but the plan was scrapped over concern for earth's inhabitants if the mission failed.

When contacted by the Associated Press, the U.S. Air Force declined to comment on the project.