The El Paso Scientist Who Wanted to Nuke the Moon

In the 1950s, while most Americans were worried about duck and cover drills and Sputnik, one U.S. government project took Cold War panic to an entirely new altitude: a plan to detonate a nuclear bomb on the moon. And yes, a scientist allegedly connected to El Paso was at the helm. (Though to be honest, if he was willing to blow up a celestial body, we’re fine keeping that connection unofficial.)

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Project A119 and the Cold War Plan to Bomb the Moon

Before NASA sent men to walk on the moon, the U.S. Air Force had a more explosive idea: blow up a portion of the lunar surface to flex on the Soviets. The plan, officially titled Project A119, was developed in 1958 by the Air Force in partnership with the Illinois-based Armour Research Foundation. But one of the lead minds behind it, physicist Leonard Reiffel, spent part of his career working on it.

Reiffel was a brilliant physicist and inventor who would later work for NASA, write science books for the public, and even dabble in broadcasting. But back in the late 1950s, he was the guy asked, “Can we detonate a hydrogen bomb on the moon?” And instead of laughing them out of the room, he said, “Let me get back to you on that.”

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Why did the U.S. Want to Drop a Nuclear Bomb on the Moon?

In the wake of Sputnik, the U.S. was having a bit of a national ego crisis. The Soviet Union had beaten them to space, and America was determined to reassert its cosmic dominance, even if that meant launching a missile with a nuclear warhead toward Earth's only natural satellite.

According to declassified documents and Reiffel himself, who later spoke about the project in interviews, the main goals were:

• Show of force: The flash would be visible from Earth, creating an American-made celestial fireworks show

• Psychological warfare: Prove U.S. superiority through sheer audacity

• Scientific data: Sure, they said it would also help scientists understand lunar composition, but let’s be honest, this was less about geology and more about political geology

The mission was designed to use a W25 nuclear warhead, a relatively small 1.7 kiloton bomb compared to those dropped during WWII. The plan included detonating it on the surface of the moon in a location visible from Earth, fulfilling the goal of a good old-fashioned patriotic light show. Great planning.

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The Great Carl Sagan’s Role in Nuking A Celestial Body

Before he became the cardigan-wearing space whisperer of Cosmos, Carl Sagan was a young grad student tapped to help with A119. His role? Calculating how the dust from a nuclear explosion would disperse on the moon, basically asking, “How do we make sure our cosmic nuke glitter gets everywhere?”

Later in life, Sagan’s involvement came to light when declassified materials were compared to notes he'd published. It was a minor scandal in academia because the government hadn’t technically cleared him to talk about it. Imagine Sagan, decades later, saying, “Billions and billions...of bad ideas.”

The Abandonment of Project A119 and Its Legacy

Project A119 was ultimately scrapped before the plan left the drawing board. The U.S. government decided that blowing up the moon might actually be bad PR, especially if the bomb left a permanent crater visible from Earth or, worse, accidentally knocked a chunk of the moon off orbit.

There was also the issue of the 1958 Partial Test Ban Treaty that would later prohibit nuclear explosions in space. And, you know, the basic human decency clause about maybe not nuking celestial bodies for fun.

Leonard Reiffel went on to have a respectable career in science and communications. Still, he reportedly said he was glad the plan didn’t go forward. That didn’t stop conspiracy theorists from running with the story. To this day, some believe Project A119 was a cover for something else, or that it happened and was covered up.

The next time someone tells you El Paso never makes history, remind them: one of our own might’ve helped pitch the first ever interstellar nuke party. Thankfully, the RSVP was lost in the mail.