During the Cold War, the U.S. government was hell-bent on one upping the commies in any
way possible. In the process, they came up with a number of outlandish plans, such as
that time they proposed nuking the moon, interestingly enough a project a young Carl Sagan worked
on. There were also many more down to Earth projects like the development of what would
become the internet in order to ensure ease of sharing information among the nation's
scientists. This brings us to a project that unfortunately went into history's dustbin-
the U.S. Army's plan to build a massive military installation on the moon.
Known as Project Horizon, the impetus for the plan came when the Soviets set their sites
on the moon. As noted in the Project Horizon report, "The Soviet Union in propaganda broadcasts
has announced the 50th anniversary of the present government (1967) will be celebrated
by Soviet citizens on the moon."
U.S. National Space policy intelligence thought this was a little optimistic, but still felt
that the Soviets could probably do it by 1968. Military brass deemed this a potential disaster
for the United States for several reasons.
To begin with, if the Soviets got to the moon first, they could potentially build their
own military base there which they could use for a variety of secret projects safely away
from the United States' prying eyes. In the extreme, they could potentially launch nuclear
attacks on the U.S. with impunity from that base.
Naturally, a military installation completely out of reach of your enemies both terrified
and tantalized military officials.
Next up, if the Soviets landed on the moon first, they could try to claim the entire
moon for themselves. If they did that, any move by the U.S. to reach the moon could potentially
be considered an aggressive act, effectively making the moon off limits to the United States
unless willing to risk war back home.
This was deemed to be a potential disaster as the moon, with its low gravity, was seen
as a needed hub for launching deep space missions, as well as a better position to map and observe
space from than Earth.
Beyond the practical, this would also see the Soviets not just claiming the international
prestige of an accomplishment like landing and building a facility on the moon, but also
countless other discoveries and advancements after, as they used the moon for scientific
discovery and to more easily launch missions beyond.
Of course, the Soviets might do none of these things and allow the U.S. to use the moon
as they pleased. But this wasn't a guarantee. As noted in the Project Horizon report, "Clearly
the US would not be in a position to exercise an option between peaceful and military applications
unless we are first. In short, the establishment of the initial lunar outpost is the first
definitive step in exercising our options."
The threat of having the moon be in Soviet hands simply would not stand. As President
Lyndon B. Johnson would famously state in 1964, "I do not believe that this generation
of Americans is willing to resign itself to going to bed each night by the light of a
Communist moon."
Thus, long before Kennedy would make his famous May 25, 1961 declaration before Congress that
the U.S. "should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing
a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth", military brass in the U.S.
were dead-set on not just man stepping foot on the moon, but building a military installation
there and sticking around permanently.
And so it was that in March of 1959, Chief of Army Ordnance Major General John Hinrichs
was tasked by Chief of Research and Development Lieutenant General Arthur G Trudeau with developing
a detailed plan on what was needed to make such a moon base happen. A strict guideline
of the plan was that it had to be realistic and, towards that end, the core elements of
the plan had to use components and equipment either already developed or close to being
completed.
To facilitate the outline for the project, Major General John B. Medaris stated, "We
grabbed every specialist we could get our hands on in the Army."
The resulting report published on June 9, 1959 went into an incredible amount of detail,
right down to how the carbon dioxide would be scrubbed from the air at the base.
So what did they come up with?
To begin with, it was deemed the transport side could be accomplished using nothing more
than Saturn 1 and Saturn 2 rockets. Specifically, 61 Saturn 1s and 88 Saturn 2s would transport
around a total of 490,000 lbs of cargo to the moon. An alternative plan was to use these
rockets to launch much of the cargo to a space station in high Earth orbit. These larger
sections would then be ferried over to the moon using a dedicated ship that would go
back and forth from the Earth to the moon.
The potential advantage here was that for the Saturn rockets to get equipment to the
moon, they were limited to about 6000 pounds per trip on average. But if only transporting
something to orbit, they could do much greater payloads, meaning fewer rockets needed. The
problem, of course, was that this version of the plan required the development of a
ferrying rocket and an orbiting space station, which made it the less desirable option. Again,
a strict guideline for the project was that the core of the plan had to use existing or
near existing equipment and technology in order to expedite the project and get to the
moon before the Soviets.
Whichever method was used, once everything was on the moon, a pair of astronauts would
be sent to inspect everything and figure out if anything needed replaced. The duration
of this first moon landing by man was slated to be a 1-3 month stay.
Next up, whatever replacement items that needed to be sent would be delivered, and then once
all that was set, a construction crew would be sent to complete the base. The general
plan there was to use explosives and a specially designed space bulldozer/backhoe to create
trenches to put the pre-built units into. Once in place, they would simply be attached
together and buried in order to provide added protection from meteorites and potential attacks,
among other benefits.
As for the features of this base, this included redundant nuclear reactors for power, as well
as the potential to augment this with solar power for further redundancy. Various scientific
laboratories would also be included, as well as a recreation room, hospital unit, housing
quarters, and a section made for growing food in a sustainable way. This food would augment
frozen and dehydrated foods supplied from Earth.
The base would also have extensive radio equipment to facilitate the moon functioning as a communications
hub for the U.S. military back on Earth that could not be touched by any nation on Earth
at the time. On a similar note, it would also function as a relay for deep space communications
to and from Earth.
Beyond the core base itself, a moon truck capable of transporting the astronauts and
equipment around was proposed, as well as placing bomb shelters all around the base
for astronauts to hide in if needed. Water, oxygen, and hydrogen would ultimately be provided
from the ice on the moon itself, not only sustaining the astronauts but potentially
providing any needed fuel for rockets, again to help facilitate missions beyond the moon
and transport back home to Earth.
Of course, being a military installation, it was deemed necessary for the 12 astronauts
that were to be stationed at the base at all times to be able to defend themselves against
attack. Thus, for their personal sidearms, a general design for a space-gun was presented,
more or less being a sort of shotgun modified to work in space and be held and fired by
someone in a bulky suit.
The astronauts would also be given many Claymore like devices to be stationed around the base's
perimeter or where deemed needed. These could be fired remotely and more or less just sent
a hail of buckshot at high speed wherever they were pointed.
Thanks to the lesser gravity and lack of tangible atmosphere, both of these weapons would have
incredible range, if perhaps not the most accurate things in the world.
But who needs accuracy when you have nuclear weapons? Yes, the astronauts would be equipped
with those too, including the then under development Davey Crockett nuclear gun. Granted, thanks
to the lack of atmosphere, the weapon wouldn't be nearly as destructive as it would be on
Earth, but the ionizing radiation kill zone was still around 300-500 meters.
Another huge advantage of the Davey Crockett on the moon was that the range was much greater,
reducing the risk to the people firing it, and the whole contraption would only weigh
a little over 30-40 pounds thanks to the moon's lesser gravity, making it easier for the astronauts
to cart around than on Earth.
Of course, being a space base, Project Horizon creators naturally included a death ray in
its design. This was to be a weapon designed to focus a huge amount of sun rays and ionizing
radiation onto approaching enemy targets. Alternatively, another death ray concept was
to build a device that would shoot ionizing radiation at enemy soldiers or ships.
As for space suits, according to the Project Creators, despite being several years before
the character would make his debut in the comics, they decided an Iron Man like suit
was the way to go, rather than fabric based as NASA would choose. To quote the report,
“For sustained operation on the lunar surface a body conformation suit having a substantial
outer metal surface is considered a necessity for several reasons: (1) uncertainty that
fabrics and elastomers can sustain sufficient pressure differential without unacceptable
leakage; (2) meteoroid protection; (3) provides a highly reflective surface; (4) durability
against abrasive lunar surface; (5) cleansing and sterilization... It should be borne in
mind that while movement and dexterity are severe problems in suit design, the earth
weight of the suit can be allowed to be relatively substantial. For example, if a man and his
lunar suit weigh 300 pounds on earth, they will only weigh 50 pounds on the moon.”
Along with death rays, nuclear guns, and badass space suits, no self respecting moon base
could be governed by anything as quaint as a simply named committee or the like. No,
Project Horizon also proposed creating a "Unified Space Command" to manage all facets of the
base and its operation, along with further exploration in space, including potentially
a fleet of space ships needed to achieve whatever objectives were deemed appropriate once the
base was established.
As to the cost of this whole project, the report stated,
“The total cost of the eight and one-half year program presented in this study is estimated
to be six billion dollars (*about $53 billion in 2019 dollars*). This is an average of approximately
$700 million per year. These figured are a valid appraisal, and, while preliminary, they
represent the best estimates of experienced, non-commercial, agencies of the government.
Substantial funding is undeniably required for the establishment of a U. S. lunar outpost;
however, the implications of the future importance of such an operation should be compared to
the fact that the average annual funding required for Project HORIZON would be less than two
percent of the current annual defense budget.”
Of course, the reality is that the entire Apollo program ended up costing a little over
$25 billion, so this $6 billion estimate likely would have ballooned to much greater levels
had the base actually been built. That said, even massively more expensive, given the number
of years, this would have still represented a relatively small portion of the United States'
annual defense budget, as noted.
Sadly, considering the initial plan was explicitly to make this a peaceful installation unless
war broke out, meant mostly for scientific discovery, and considering what such a moon
base would have meant for the direction of future space exploration, neither President
Dwight D. Eisenhower, nor the American public had much interest in even going to the moon
at all, let alone building a base there.
Yes, contrary to popular belief, the Greatest Generation was pretty non-enthusiastic about
the whole space thing. In fact, even after Kennedy would make his famous speech before
Congress and then at Rice University, a Gallup poll showed almost two-thirds of Americans
were against the plan to land a man on the moon, generally seeing it as a waste of taxpayer
dollars. Sentiments did not greatly improve from there.
But Kennedy was having none of it, as outlined in his September 12, 1962 speech at Rice University:
SAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZyRbnpGyzQ
“We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights
to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science,
like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will
become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies
a position of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace
or a new terrifying theater of war... But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as
our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly
the Atlantic? We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not
because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize
and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are
willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win...”
(**** Maybe flash on the screen a waving U.S. flag and the text- ‘MERICA F&*K YA! Just
for a split second after the speech or some similar joke???)
As for the U.S., as the initial glow of the accomplishment of putting a man on the moon
rapidly wore off, and with public support almost nonexistent for further missions to
the moon, it was deemed that taxpayer dollars would be much better spent for more down to
Earth activities like spending approximately SEVEN TIMES the Apollo program's entire cost
sending older taxpayer's children off to kill and be killed in Vietnam... a slightly less
inspiring way to counter the communists. Thus, efforts towards the moon and beyond were mostly
curtailed, with what limited funds were available for space activities largely shifted to the
space shuttle program and more obviously practical missions closer to home, a move the Soviets
quickly copied as well unfortunately.
Just before we get into the Bonus Fact for today on a little known facet of Kennedy’s
plan for getting
a man on
the moon- CROSSOUT!
Bonus Fact:
A little talked about facet of Kennedy's goal for landing on the moon was actually to have
the Soviets and the U.S. join together in the effort. As Kennedy would state in the
aforementioned Rice speech, "I... say that space can be explored and mastered without
feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending
his writ around this globe of ours. There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict
in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best
of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again."
Unfortunately, each time Kennedy proposed for the U.S. and Soviets join efforts towards
this unifying goal, which seemingly would have seen the Cold War become a lot less hot,
the Soviets declined. That said, for whatever it's worth, according to Sergei Khrushchev,
the son of then Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev, while his father initial thought it unwise
to allow the U.S. such intimate knowledge of their rocket technology, he supposedly
eventually changed his mind and had decided to push for accepting Kennedy's proposal.
Said Sergei, "He thought that if the Americans wanted to get our technology and create defenses
against it, they would do that anyway. Maybe we could get (technology) in the bargain that
would be better for us..."
Sergei also claimed that his father also saw the benefit of better relations between the
U.S. and the Soviet Union as a way to facilitate a massive cutback in military spending that
was a huge drain on Soviet resources.
Sergei would further note that Kennedy's assassination stopped plans to accept the offer, and the
Johnson administration's similar offer was rejected owing to Khrushchev not trusting
or having the same respect for Johnson as he had developed for Kennedy.
Whatever the truth of that, thanks to declassified documents after the fall of the Soviet Union,
we know that the Soviets were, in fact, originally not just planning to put a human on the moon,
but also planning on building a base there as well. Called Zvezda, the planned Soviet
moon installation was quite similar to the one outlined in Project Horizon, except instead
of digging trenches, this base would simply be placed on the surface and then, if needs
be, buried, but if not, the base was to be a large mobile platform to use to explore
the moon.