In 1949, the Armour Research Foundation began studying the effects of nuclear explosions on the environment. In May 1958, ARF began covertly researching the potential consequences of an atomic explosion on the Moon. The main objective of the program, which ran under the auspices of the
United States Air Force, was to cause a nuclear explosion that would be visible from Earth. It was hoped that such a display would boost the morale of the American people.
When this project, labelled as Project A119, was conceived in late 1957, there were rumors, stoked by the American press, that the 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 the 7th of November. There has been no evidence of such a plan, aside from a source who divulged the information to a Secret Service agent.
However, in the late 2010s, documents from the Soviet era revealed that there were proposals made under the codename of Project E-Project E-1 entailed plans to reach the Moon, while projects E-2 and E-3 involved sending a probe around the
far side of the Moon to take a series of photographs of its surface. The final stage of the project, E-4, was to be a nuclear strike on the Moon as a display of force.
The American plan was to launch a rocket, carrying a W25 warhead with a low yield of 1.7 kiloton, (far smaller than the 18 kiloton Little Boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945), toward the hidden side of the Moon, near the terminator, where it would detonate on impact. The dust cloud resulting from the explosion would be lit by the Sun and therefore visible from Earth. The Air Force's progress in developing intercontinental ballistic missiles made the plan feasible by 1959.
However, in January of that year, Project A119 was cancelled by the Air Force, out of fear of a negative public reaction and the risk to the population should anything have gone wrong with the launch. Project leader Leonard Reiffel also revealed there was another factor in the cancellation fo the plan: the possible implications of the
nuclear fallout for future lunar research projects and colonization. There were also fears that such a show of force would encourage militarization of space.
As for Project E, it was cancelled for the same reason as Project A119: the Soviets were not prepared to take the risk that something would go wrong with the launch.
But what if the Americans decided to take the risk and initiate Project A119 in 1959?