5/20/2023 0 Comments Heinlein marsBut the idea was to drop a hydrogen bomb at the terminator line on the moon, presumably to scare the Soviets and prevent them from planning military bases on the lunar surface. The official title was “A Study of Lunar Research Flights, Volume 1” which sounds benign enough. Oh, did we forget to mention that A119 and E4 were plans to detonate a nuclear device on the moon? Fortunately, both sides eventually realized these plans weren’t a good idea. In all fairness, the Soviets had an almost identical plan, code-named E4. The Air Force wanted ideas about how to respond to Sputnik, and one of the most disturbing ones was project A119, a project we were reminded of recently by a BBC post. They launched Sputnik on a modified ICBM, while American attempts to do the same failed spectacularly. The Soviet Union was ahead in the ability to deliver bombs using planes and missiles. While America won the race to the moon, that wasn’t clear in the 1950s. Part of it was simply fear generated by propaganda. Part of it was a fear of what a rival nation could do if they could fly over your country with impunity. In today’s world, it is hard to realize how frightened Americans were at the news of Sputnik orbiting the Earth.
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