Project A119

The project was never carried out, being cancelled after "Air Force officials decided its risks outweighed its benefits", and because a Moon landing would undoubtedly be a more popular achievement in the eyes of the American and international public alike.

A young Carl Sagan was part of the team responsible for predicting the effects of a nuclear explosion in vacuum and low gravity, and evaluating the scientific value of the project.

The main objective of the program, running under the auspices of the United States Air Force which had initially proposed it, was to cause a nuclear explosion that would be visible from Earth.

According to press reports in late 1957, an anonymous source had divulged to a United States Secret Service agent that the Soviets planned to commemorate the anniversary of the October Revolution by causing a nuclear explosion on the Moon to coincide with a lunar eclipse on 7 November.

[5] A similar idea had been put forward by Edward Teller, the "father of the H-bomb", who, in February 1957, proposed the detonation of nuclear devices both on and some distance from the lunar surface to analyze the effects of the explosion.

[6] A ten-member team, led by Leonard Reiffel, was assembled at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago to study the potential visibility of the explosion, the benefits to science, and the implications for the lunar surface.

[4][6][7] Scientists initially considered using a hydrogen bomb for the project, but the United States Air Force vetoed that idea due to the weight of such a device, because it would be too heavy to be propelled by the missile which would have been used.

[14] In December of that year, Apollo scientist Gary Latham suggested detonating a "smallish" nuclear device on the Moon in order to facilitate research into its geological make-up.

[16] The existence of Project A119 remained largely secret until the mid-1990s, when writer Keay Davidson discovered the story while researching the life of Carl Sagan for a biography.

[19] That led Reiffel to break his anonymity and write a letter to the journal confirming that Sagan's activity had at the time been considered a breach of the confidentiality of the project.

[7][20] Reiffel's revelation of the project was accompanied by his denunciation of the work carried out, with the scientist noting that he was "horrified that such a gesture to sway public opinion was ever considered".

[6] David Lowry, a nuclear historian from the United Kingdom, has called the project's proposals "obscene", adding, "had they gone ahead, we would never have had the romantic image of Neil Armstrong taking 'one giant leap for mankind'".