CBS DC
Dude?
The secret project dubbed, “A Study of Lunar Research Flights” and nicknamed “Project A119,” was seriously being considered until it was scrapped because military officials were worried it would hurt the people on Earth.
The Daily Mail reports that astronomer Carl Sagan’s calculations were used regarding the dust and gas the blast would generate. The website also states that physicist Leonard Reiffel told the Associated Press in an interview in 2000 that a U.S. nuclear flash from Earth might have “intimidated” the Soviets.
Blowback
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Space 1999
Frank Enstine on November 27, 2012 at 3:34 PM
It just be me, but I don’t think God would have let that happen? What a crock of idiots!
L
letget on November 27, 2012 at 3:34 PM
I prefer my green cheese to glow in the dark.
Flange on November 27, 2012 at 3:35 PM
http://www.imao.us/docs/NukeTheMoon.htm
written August 15th, 2002
Chickyraptor on November 27, 2012 at 3:38 PM
JetBoy on November 27, 2012 at 3:38 PM
In the 1950s that seems plausible. “They’d be shocked we could get there!” kind of thinking. It would be more of a show of rocketry and missle guidance technology than nuke technology. I’m sure it was quickly scrapped once we thought we could WALK on it instead.
Meric1837 on November 27, 2012 at 3:41 PM
Meh. This is being played up as though blowing up the moon was the official policy of the United States. But read down a few paragraphs and it doesn’t seem so sensational. It seems more like there were some poeple who were interested in the idea, got some funding to research it, and were shut down after the research showed that it was a dumb idea.
A few bureaucrats discussing an idea doesn’t make it official policy or the intent of the government. But that fact won’t stop people from running around lampooning 1950s America as some nuclear happy cowboy nation that would destroy the moon just to skeer off the Ruskies.
The same people who buy into these sensationalist headlines are probably the very ones who voted for Obama….twice That is to say, their average analytical skills are lower than optimal.
dczombie on November 27, 2012 at 3:41 PM
still not as scary as the BS coming out of our current administration
gatorboy on November 27, 2012 at 3:41 PM
Ya think?
Richard Romano on November 27, 2012 at 3:42 PM
A bomb that is just powerful enough to flatten a city has zero chance of “blowing up” a 2000-mile wide spherical body of rock. You fail basic science, CBS, in your quest for sensational headlines. Only an Obama voter could think that the Moon could be destroyed by a nuclear weapon or strip mining.
JimLennon on November 27, 2012 at 3:42 PM
If Daily Mail and Asian News Intl says so.
lester on November 27, 2012 at 3:43 PM
Blast it! (The Moon!) dczombie beat me to the punch.
JimLennon on November 27, 2012 at 3:43 PM
NUKE THE MOON!
29Victor on November 27, 2012 at 3:45 PM
Those were the days when America dreamed big. Now the people in charge of NASA – and the executive branch today – were raised on PBS, Seseme Street, and Johnson’s No More Tears baby shampoo.
keep the change on November 27, 2012 at 3:45 PM
I’m actually not sure that detonating a nuclear weapon on the surface of the moon would have much of an effect at all; blast waves don’t propagate too well in the near-vacuum of outer space. In any case, detonating a nuke on the surface of the moon is not the same thing as “blowing it up.” Ridiculous sensationalist headline. FAIL.
Hayabusa on November 27, 2012 at 3:46 PM
Hardly would have blown UP the moon; would have knocked a new crater in it and dosed it with lots of radiation.
michaelo on November 27, 2012 at 3:47 PM
We actually used to have 2 moons, but after blowing up one of them in 1952, all record of our second moon were scrubbed from books, history, etc./
portlandon on November 27, 2012 at 3:47 PM
Méliès did it first!
lester on November 27, 2012 at 3:49 PM
CBS fails science forever. Blowing up the moon would take 30 trillion megatons of TNT. The largest nuke ever detonated was about 50 megatons, and at it’s peak the entire US nuclear arsenal was about 10,000 megatons.
Jon0815 on November 27, 2012 at 3:51 PM
Another stupid idea Carl Sagan was involved in, what a shock.
Rocks on November 27, 2012 at 3:52 PM
Hey if it’s so sensationalist that even I can figure it out, you know it’s way over the top!
dczombie on November 27, 2012 at 3:55 PM
IMAO.
John_Locke on November 27, 2012 at 3:56 PM
Since when does the fact that everyone who works for CBS is a braindead moron constitute “news”?
logis on November 27, 2012 at 4:11 PM
Exactly. This is, yet another, example of jounalistic malpractice and outright idiocy. Not surprisingly, by the same fools who want to be taken seriously on their insane cries that the Earth is about to turn into a fireball because of some CO2.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on November 27, 2012 at 4:13 PM
Can’t happen. CO2 would put the fire out.
BobMbx on November 27, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Alright, now that made me laugh.
Haven’t these morons ever heard of tides? Know what causes them? Know why we need them? Idiots.
SailorMark on November 27, 2012 at 4:31 PM
I do wish someone would nuke that Hot Air logo at the bottom left that covers up the Submit button, though. *sigh*
SailorMark on November 27, 2012 at 4:32 PM
We might not have been able to blow it up entirely, but we could have made it into a permanent crescent moon.
UltimateBob on November 27, 2012 at 4:46 PM
Yeah. They can put a man on the moon, but they can’t figure that out.
UltimateBob on November 27, 2012 at 4:46 PM
We chickened out…
Akzed on November 27, 2012 at 4:47 PM
Yeah me too, sometimes it covers up the log in link. I’ve complained to no avail.
Akzed on November 27, 2012 at 4:48 PM
“The moon belongs to America, and anxiously awaits the arrival of our astro-men. Will you be among them?” -Funniest Simpsons line, evah.
Akzed on November 27, 2012 at 4:52 PM
Hmm. Comment not posting but no moderation notice?
TexasDan on November 27, 2012 at 4:53 PM
Indeed. Is that just a chrome thing? Yes, I’m to lazy to open other browsers to find out.
I bet they cancelled it because they realized a) they stood a decent chance of missing and b) the event might not be all that noticeable. It’s one thing if you could put on a display of nuclear might and invite all the Russians to step outside and contemplate their futures on a clear, cold night with a full moon. It seems to me that’s what the Soviets achieved with Sputnik.
I’m not a nuclear explosives expert, but my suspicions are that with no real lunar atmosphere you get no shockwave and therefore little dust, and no fireball, and a pinprick blink-and-you-miss-it flash.
Also, FrankJ should be taking a victory lap until New Years or so.
TexasDan on November 27, 2012 at 4:53 PM
Thought it wsa a browser prob on my end.
Using Opera with ghostery and some other stuff.
tom daschle concerned on November 27, 2012 at 4:54 PM
Nope. Does the same with my Firefox 17.0.
eforhan on November 27, 2012 at 5:01 PM
Not really. Bikini Atoll provided lots of nice pictures and such for propaganda that we wouldn’t have gotten from the moon.
TexasDan on November 27, 2012 at 5:07 PM
I get the same with Firefox and with IE9. It was blocking the sign in box for a long time and I couldn’t sign in for a while this morning. You have no idea how many witty comments HA missed out on because I couldn’t log in. (Do I need to put the sarc tag here?)
dczombie on November 27, 2012 at 5:34 PM
Google Chrome here. Same problem. I have to sign in on a “top picks” story because it even covers up the sign in on the headlines.
Joey24007 on November 27, 2012 at 5:51 PM
Hitting the moon with a nuclear missile and “blowing up the moon” are two different things.
Warner Todd Huston on November 27, 2012 at 5:58 PM