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Carl Sagan Was On US Team To Nuke the Moon

Posted by timothy on from the only-a-light-nuking-around-the-edges dept.

First time accepted submitter novakom writes "Apparently during the cold war, one fall-back position the U.S. was looking at to ensure mutual assured destruction was to put nukes on the moon. This would ensure that the U.S. could retaliate against even an effective first strike by the Russians. The first step, of course, would be to detonate a nuke on the moon. And yes, Carl Sagan was on the team (and apparently leaked the info!)"

2 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. slow news day? by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Informative

    > [...........] And yes, Carl Sagan was on the team (and apparently leaked the info!)

    That's in the wiki entry. Slow news during the holiday season?

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  2. Re:Typical slashdot summary by slew · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hmm, might review your history a bit.

    Potsdam (w/ Truman hinting to Stalin about the A-bomb) happened in 1945. Eisenhower was President after 1953. This nuke-the-moon plan didn't get rolling until 1957 (after Sputnik) when the US heard a rumor about a similar Soviet plan to nuke-the-moon (aka Project E-4).

    The publication "A Study of Lunar Research Flights" (which documented the nuke-the-moon plan) wasn't printed until 1959.