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Leonard Reiffel sits in a lab working on his latest invention.
Suddenly, the doors burst open and a heavily decorated Air Force general walks in.
“Professor Reiffel, we have a mission for you,” says the general.
“We are going to nuke the moon, and you’re going to help us.”
Reiffel can’t believe what he just heard.
“We’re going to what?” he asks.
“Nuke the moon,” responds the general.
“The Soviets launched Sputnik 1, the first satellite to go into space on October 4th.
It can be heard on radios around the world.
The United States is losing the space race, professor, and we need to do something big
to assert our dominance.
What better way to show the world how powerful we are than blowing up the moon?”
Reiffel looks at the general suspiciously and asks: “why would nuking the moon make
a difference?
Couldn’t the United States just land a craft on the lunar surface to collect data?”
The general releases a long breath and pulls out a newspaper.
It is the November 1st, 1957 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
One of the headlines says: Latest Red Rumor: They’ll Bomb Moon.
Reiffel lets out a whistle.
“So you guys weren’t the first to think of this I see.”
Reiffel keeps reading the article which talks about how the Soviet Union is planning to
launch an H-bomb at the moon.
However, the biggest concern is that the missile will miss its target, and boomerang back around
to strike the Earth.
This is a matter of real concern as it could turn the Cold War hot, and kill millions of
people.
It seems that the Soviet’s plan is no secret either, as they have told the world they’d
let everyone know when the launch was scheduled for.
That way billions of people could look to the sky and watch as a nuclear bomb was detonated
on the face of the moon by the U.S.S.R.
“We need to beat the Soviets to the punch,” the general says.
“We need you to gather your colleagues at the Chicago’s Armour Research Foundation
and form a team to assess whether it is possible for the United States to launch a nuke to
the moon and hit it.
Also, we need to know what people here on Earth will be able to see.
We cannot let the Soviets be the first to nuke the moon, not after they beat us by putting
the first satellite into space.
Get it done,” the general turns around and exits the lab.
Reiffel is left staring at the closed door of his lab.
“How the hell are we supposed to nuke the moon?” he shouts at the empty room.
“I’m going to need some help.”
Reiffel begins gathering a team of engineers and scientists together to help him solve
the problem of getting a nuclear warhead to the moon.
But more importantly, he needs the brainpower to predict the effects of such an undertaking,
and what it would cost the country.
The mission is codenamed Project A119, and is highly classified.
In order for it to be successful, Reiffel needs the best of the best.
He recruits Gerard Kuiper, a planetary science professor at the University of Chicago, who’s
contributions to astronomy would later lead to the part of space just outside our solar
system consisting of billions of comets, asteroids, and other icy objects to be named the Kuiper
Belt.
But Kuiper doesn’t come alone.
He has been working with a young astrophysicist that shows real promise.
At the time Reiffel approached him, Kuiper had been advising a young scientist working
on his dissertation.
This young scientist was none other than Carl Sagan.
He is recruited to work on the Project A119 team.
Sagan would later become a household name, and one of the greatest proponents of bringing
science to the general public in the world.
He is tasked with figuring out what would happen to the irradiated dust that would be
ejected into space if the United States detonated a nuke on the moon.
Now that Reiffel has put his team together, everyone gets to work.
They cram numbers, and double check calculations in the lab day and night, to model what it
would take to detonate a nuke on the moon.
More importantly, they figure out what the repercussions of such an action would be.
Weeks of sleepless nights and strenuous days go by before a final report is completed.
Reiffel publishes the report and titles it “A Study of Lunar Research Flights.”
Although a more apt title may have been “How to Nuke the Moon and What Will Happen.”
The research team has concluded that since the moon lacks an atmosphere several key events
will not occur.
The first is that there will be no mushroom cloud from the explosion.
Instead, once the nuke is detonated, it will kick tons of dust and debris straight up into
the vacuum of space.
It would be more of a pillar than a mushroom cloud.
However, the heads of the Air Force are pleased to hear that the flash upon detonation would
still be visible from Earth.
What is the point of nuking the moon if no one can see that you did it? the government
wondered.
The whole point of the mission is to show the world that the United States has a presence
in space.
It is also to boost the morale of the country who feels that the U.S. is falling behind
the Soviets.
And since they are at war, even if it is a cold one, the United States must show their
strength and ability to outdo anything the Soviets can.
At the conclusion of the report Reiffel and the team make some suggestions.
Since they are all scientists, they can’t help but add some experiments to the blowing
up the moon plan.
They recommend sending up scientific instruments before the nuclear warhead and landing them
at a location where data can be collected.
When the nuke goes off, it will send seismic waves through the moon’s crust and mantle.
These waves can be recorded and analyzed.
The data collected this way would allow scientists to better understand the composition of the
moon, and what its internal layers consist of.
However, the team also concludes that there are some definite problems with nuking the
moon.
First and foremost, it will be incredibly expensive.
To be fair, no price tag is too big if it means beating the Soviets to something.
This is because it would boost morale, and make people around the world cower in fear
at America’s might.
But Reiffel and his team also conduct some preliminary research on how the public will
feel about the United States nuking the moon.
They find that not everyone is as excited about the idea as the U.S. Air Force is.
After the devastation that the nuclear bombs caused at the end of World War II in Japan,
nukes became a real concern for the average citizen.
Everyone now knew that if a nuke goes off in their vicinity, they would most likely
not be able to escape its blast.
It also doesn’t help that the Soviet Union, and the United States, have continued to improve
on the deadly weapons and make them more and more powerful.
The research team concludes that the general public is not prepared for the nuking of the
moon, and it could create a negative reaction instead of a positive one.
There is also another problem with the plan.
If the United States successfully blows up a nuclear bomb on the moon, the Soviets will
have to do the same.
Not only that, but they will have to one up their adversary, which means that an even
larger nuke might be sent to the moon by the Communist regime.
This could continue to escalate until the two nations either blew up the moon, or each
other.
It could also lead to the lunar surface becoming a radioactive wasteland.
At this point in time in 1957, no one has ever been to the moon, so who knows what damage
could be caused if a nuke was detonated there?
In fact, as far as anyone knew, there may be life hidden in warm pockets on the lunar
surface.
It is unlikely, but more research needs to be done before humans irradiate the space
rock.
Reiffel and his team informs the Air Force that if nuclear bombing of the moon gets out
of hand, it will be unsafe to send any astronauts in the future since the radiation levels will
be too high.
“The conclusion of Project A119 is that nuking the moon is just not worth it,” says
Leonard Reiffel.
The generals in the room rifle through the documents in front of them, grumbling their
discontent.
It seems as if some of them really wanted to blow up the moon, even if it was just for
fun.
“We just don’t know enough about the moon to warrant destroying it yet,” Reiffel continues.
“Are there important resources on the lunar surface?
Could we colonize the moon someday?
Is there hidden alien life there?
We just don’t know, and nuking the moon could jeopardize discovering all of that.”
The generals close their folders and push them towards the middle of the table.
“Very well,” says one of the Air Force generals a little somberly.
“We won’t nuke the moon.”
“Thank you,” responds Reiffel.
“Something else to keep in mind; The United State’s record with successfully launching
missiles into space without them exploding is… not great.
If you attach a nuclear warhead to the top of one of those missiles, and something goes
wrong, you will inadvertently be detonating a nuclear bomb on United States soil.
The repercussions of such a tragedy would be disastrous.”
The Air Force generals all agree.
All of these valid concerns eventually lead to the United States government scrapping
Project A119.
Sending a nuke to the moon and detonating it was something that the world was not ready
for.
And the Soviets agreed.
They also gave up their plans to nuke the moon, most likely because the idea of something
going wrong, and a nuclear warhead detonation within the U.S.S.R. was not something the
Communist leadership wanted.
And it is probably for the best that all of this was put to a stop, because even though
Project A119 never got off the ground, other nuclear missions did with disastrous consequences.
On June 20, 1962 the first Starfish Prime mission was launched to detonate a nuclear
warhead at high altitudes.
The results were catastrophic.
The missile encountered problems mid-flight and detonated at a lower altitude than planned.
This sent radioactive particles raining down into the Pacific Ocean.
Even with this disaster, the United States tried again, and on July 9, 1962 managed to
detonate a nuke in space.
The warhead went off 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean at which point the electromagnetic pulse
caused streetlights, telephone lines, and other electronic devices to go dead across
the state of Hawaii.
Things were clearly starting to get out of hand; in 1963 the Partial Test Ban Treaty
prohibited the testing of nuclear weapons in outer space, in the atmosphere, or underwater.
And just to make sure no one did anything crazy—like say try to blow up the moon—in
1967 the Outer Space Treaty was signed, which included a provision that stated nuclear weapons
could not be deployed, or used, in space in any manner.
It also stated that the moon was to be used for science and exploration missions only.
Basically the treaty said: leave the moon alone, and stop trying to blow it up.
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Now watch “What Would Happen If We Detonate a Nuke in Space?”
Or check out “WHAT TO DO IF THERE IS A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION?!”