A story that surfaced over a decade ago is making the rounds
again this week, as some media outlets are reporting that the
U.S. considered detonating an atomic bomb on the moon in an
effort to intimidate the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold
War. On Sunday, the Daily Mail revived the story, citing a
12-year-old interview with physicist Leonard Reiffel, formerly
of the U.S. military-backed Armour Research Foundation and later
a deputy director of NASA. Celebrated astronomer Carl Sagan also
was said to have been involved with the secret project, which
reportedly was known as “A Study of Lunar Research Flights” or
“Project A119.” Sagan died in 1996. In the interview, Reiffel
reportedly said the plan had been to launch a rocket that would
deliver a small nuclear device to the moon’s surface, where it
would detonate. Reiffel, now 85, is believed to be the only
official to have publicly confirmed his association with the
project. However, a 190-page document called “A Study of Lunar
Research Flights, Volume I”