US planned to blow up the Moon, report says

[Chewbacca]

WASHINGTON - The United States planned to blow up the moon with a nuclear bomb during the Cold War as a show of strength, according to reports.

American military chiefs allegedly devised the secret project, named A Study of Lunar Research Flights - or Project A119 - in the hope that the Soviet Union would be intimidated by viewing the nuclear flash from Earth, the Daily Telegraph reported.

It would give the US a much needed morale boost after the Russians successfully launched Sputnik in 1957, according to physicist Leonard Reiffel, who was involved in the project.

According to the report in The Sun, the US would have used an atom bomb, because a hydrogen bomb would have been too heavy. The planning reportedly included calculations by astronomer Carl Sagan, who was then a young graduate.

Military officials however reportedly abandoned the idea, which would have taken place in 1959, because of fears that it would have an adverse effect on Earth should the explosion fail.

The project documents were kept secret for nearly 45 years, and the US government has never formally confirmed its involvement in the study.

Instead of blowing up the moon, the US intensified and eventually won the Space Race against the Soviet Union, with Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to walk on the moon in July 1969. AGENCIES

Link to unclassified report: Click


welp

 

[user1324865215]

-_-

 

[Leifr Eiríksson]

Wow.

This may just be the stupidest idea ever.

 

[Tibertus]

Awesome.

 

[Lord Burgess1]

Yey tides.

 

[Dante.]

When you said it was reported in The Sun newspaper I automatically called bull****. But then I read the actual document and now I am amazed.

 

[Kobrag]

...
I-I am actually lost for words.

Though, as long as the debris stayed together, the tides would have minute changes rather than dramatic ones, for the mass and grav pull would be about the same.

Still bat**** crazy and irresponsible though.

 

[Pharaoh Llandy]

Though, as long as the debris stayed together

Which you can pretty much guarantee it wouldn't.

隐藏: Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a ***** in space

Gunnery Chief: This, recruits, is a 20-kilo ferrous slug. Feel the weight. Every five seconds, the main gun of an Everest-class dreadnought accelerates one to 1.3 percent of light speed. It impacts with the force of a 38-kilotomb bomb. That is three times the yield of the city buster dropped on Hiroshima back on Earth. That means Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-***** in space. Now! Serviceman Burnside! What is Newton's First Law?

First Recruit: Sir! A object in motion stays in motion, sir!

Gunnery Chief: No credit for partial answers, maggot!

First Recruit: Sir! Unless acted on by an outside force, sir!

Gunnery Chief: Damn straight! I dare to assume you ignorant jackasses know that space is empty. Once you fire this husk of metal, it keeps going till it hits something. That can be a ship, or the planet behind that ship. It might go off into deep space and hit somebody else in ten thousand years. If you pull the trigger on this, you're ruining someone's day, somewhere and sometime. That is why you check your damn targets! That is why you wait for the computer to give you a damn firing solution! That is why, Serviceman Chung, we do not "eyeball it!" This is a weapon of mass destruction. You are not a cowboy shooting from the hip!

Second Recruit: Sir, yes sir!

 

[Adorno]

Stupid headline "Blow up the Moon". More like a child blowing up a building with a firecracker.

 

[Chewbacca]

Stupid headline "Blow up the Moon". More like a child blowing up a building with a firecracker.

Actually now that you mention it, I think it would actually look pretty cool when you look up at the moon and you see a huge-ass crater.

 

[Pharaoh Llandy]

Or a huge ass-crater. That impress the Russians more.

 

[Kobrag]

Or make them more aggresive.
"****!! these guys are ****ing crazy, we must kill them now or they might accidently exterminate our species!
They nuked the ****ing MOON for ****s sake!"

 

[Dodes]

how else were they supposed to get the cheese?

 

[Kobrag]

Go to England, Italy or France?
Much cheaper and, according to W&G, more tasty.

 

[Dante.]

how else were they supposed to get the cheese?

Wow, that was cheesy...

 

[Dodes]

Gouda one

 

[Mage246]

That's no moon...


That's a debris field marking where a moon used to be.

 

[Tralfaz]

Though, as long as the debris stayed together

Which you can pretty much guarantee it wouldn't.

隐藏: Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a ***** in space

Gunnery Chief: This, recruits, is a 20-kilo ferrous slug. Feel the weight. Every five seconds, the main gun of an Everest-class dreadnought accelerates one to 1.3 percent of light speed. It impacts with the force of a 38-kilotomb bomb. That is three times the yield of the city buster dropped on Hiroshima back on Earth. That means Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-***** in space. Now! Serviceman Burnside! What is Newton's First Law?

First Recruit: Sir! A object in motion stays in motion, sir!

Gunnery Chief: No credit for partial answers, maggot!

First Recruit: Sir! Unless acted on by an outside force, sir!

Gunnery Chief: Damn straight! I dare to assume you ignorant jackasses know that space is empty. Once you fire this husk of metal, it keeps going till it hits something. That can be a ship, or the planet behind that ship. It might go off into deep space and hit somebody else in ten thousand years. If you pull the trigger on this, you're ruining someone's day, somewhere and sometime. That is why you check your damn targets! That is why you wait for the computer to give you a damn firing solution! That is why, Serviceman Chung, we do not "eyeball it!" This is a weapon of mass destruction. You are not a cowboy shooting from the hip!

Second Recruit: Sir, yes sir!

Saw that today.  /hugs Llandy

Also, why are you so surprised at the stupidity?  IT'S THE GOVERNMENT!

 

[rebelsquirrell]

when blowing up the moon failed this was the backup http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeKH-N3mh0w

 

[Scully]

Russians first into space, USA nukes moon to compensate for lacking performance.