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found this in compuserve news this a.m. what were we thinking? pretty stupid idea:
As farfetched as it sounds, the United States actually considered bombing the Moon with a nuclear weapon. It was 1958-1959, and the Cold War was brewing. The Soviet Sputnik satellite had launched in 1957. U.S. officials thought it would scare the Soviets silly if they saw what happened when a nuclear bomb exploded on the Moon. So the Air Force told top U.S. scientists to plan a spectacular lunar nuclear blast--a showy display that would be clearly visible on Earth. These bizarre plans were just revealed this week by Leonard Reiffel, a physicist who worked on the project. (The Air Force has no comment on the secret, classified project.) "We never got to a specific (nuclear) weapon nor a launch vehicle," said Reiffel. But they did tell the Air Force exactly what human beings would see as they gazed heavenward: a very bright flash, particularly if the dark side of the moon was toward Earth when the bomb went off. Clouds of debris would probably have been visible. "The prime motivation in my view was to make a public statement," he said. Looking back, Reiffel called the project "ill-advised" but said the tensions of the times motivated it. What happened to the project? Nothing. It just went away... --Cathryn Conroy
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"it's easier to stay out than get out"
As farfetched as it sounds, the United States actually considered bombing the Moon with a nuclear weapon. It was 1958-1959, and the Cold War was brewing. The Soviet Sputnik satellite had launched in 1957. U.S. officials thought it would scare the Soviets silly if they saw what happened when a nuclear bomb exploded on the Moon. So the Air Force told top U.S. scientists to plan a spectacular lunar nuclear blast--a showy display that would be clearly visible on Earth. These bizarre plans were just revealed this week by Leonard Reiffel, a physicist who worked on the project. (The Air Force has no comment on the secret, classified project.) "We never got to a specific (nuclear) weapon nor a launch vehicle," said Reiffel. But they did tell the Air Force exactly what human beings would see as they gazed heavenward: a very bright flash, particularly if the dark side of the moon was toward Earth when the bomb went off. Clouds of debris would probably have been visible. "The prime motivation in my view was to make a public statement," he said. Looking back, Reiffel called the project "ill-advised" but said the tensions of the times motivated it. What happened to the project? Nothing. It just went away... --Cathryn Conroy
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"it's easier to stay out than get out"
