The Americans wanted to place a military base on the moon
The US had plans to deploy a military base on the moon with intelligence functions and a permanent garrison to protect it from a possible attack. The estimated cost of the project, which began to prepare in the 1959 year, was, according to various sources, from 5 to 6 billions of dollars. The 100-page report, revealing some of the details of this project, was declassified in honor of the 45 anniversary of the landing of American astronauts on the moon. The project of the American military base on the moon received the name "Horizon".
This project was mainly aimed at organizing surveillance of the planet from the surface of the natural satellite of the Earth. To some extent, the American plans today have been realized without the presence of lunar military bases: a large number of American reconnaissance satellites are currently flying around the Earth. The published report also stated that the Horizon project planned to create a weapon system capable of striking the Earth’s surface or in outer space, if necessary. According to published information, the Horizon project has reached the stage of discussing potential locations for the deployment of a lunar military base.
“The military base on the moon is necessary to ensure the protection and development of potential US interests on the Earth’s satellite; for the development of tracking techniques for the planet and the cosmos from the moon. This base should become a center for space exploration and the Moon, conducting scientific research and carrying out military operations on the Moon, if such are required, ”a report published by the US Army Ballistic Missile Agency reported.
For the construction of the lunar base, it was planned to attract 16 astronauts, as well as perform 150 orders of launching Saturn class rockets, which were to deliver more than 200 tons of various construction materials to space. In the future, the constructed object should have been protected by 12 by specially trained soldiers. For the base to function successfully, it had to get two small nuclear reactors. Within the framework of the Horizon project, even possible studies on the effects of radiation on alien life forms were discussed.
The authors of the project “Horizon” took their brainchild seriously enough, not considering the project as far from a possible realization of fantasy. They not only engaged in the selection of base deployment sites, but also justified the deadlines for solving the main technical tasks of the project, justified the necessary amount of costs. It was planned to deploy a military base on the moon in 5 stages:
1. The first return of lunar soil samples to Earth is November 1964 of the year.
2. The first astronaut landing on the moon and their subsequent return back to Earth is August 1967 of the year.
3. The time base on the surface of the moon on a 12 man is November 1967 of the year.
4. Completion of the construction of the lunar base on 21 man - December 1968 of the year.
5 Fully operational moon base - June 1969 of the year.
Two promising missiles were considered as the main means of cargo delivery: the Saturn I and the Saturn II. The designers believed that the first of them would be put into mass production as early as October of the 1963 of the year, and the second during the 1964 of the year. First, two astronauts would have landed on the lunar surface, who would have been there before the arrival of the first building batch of 9 people. After 6 months after that, the first, while temporary, base was supposed to start functioning on the surface of the Moon.
According to experts of the Air Force, the total cost of the Horizon program should have been on the order of 6 billions of dollars. This project was highly classified, but information was “leaked” from time to time, and some data about the Horizon project was made public even before the publication of the report on the 45 anniversary of the first man’s landing on the Moon. In many respects, the leaks were due to the fact that the project was simply decided to be abandoned.
At the turn of 1960, the theme of the military lunar base was popular in American specialized literature. For example, the magazine US News and World Report, expressing the dreams of some American generals, already in February 1958 wrote about plans to create a lunar base. At the same time, the representative of the US Department of Defense Edson noted that the seizure of "territories on the moon" should be the main goal of US foreign policy, as the "lunar fortress" can be the key to successfully resolving the competition on the planet. Another representative of the Pentagon, Brecker, said that the development of a map of US military bases on a natural satellite of the Earth, which covers 70 areas of the lunar surface, is underway.
On the pages of Air Force magazine in November 1958, Lieutenant Colonel Singer, who worked at the Air Force Special Weapons Center, said that purely from a military point of view, the basis of enemy deterrence may be the possibility of striking regardless of his actions. This suggested that our own forces would be either completely safe from a possible attack, or they would be organized in such a way that their elements that had survived the attack would strike at the enemy with monstrous power.
Hence the idea of placing rockets on the surface of the moon. In this case, the launch sites of the rockets could be under the lunar surface. The satellite’s topographic characteristics and the presence of a large number of cracks and craters on the lunar surface made it possible to select locations for the location of rocket bases. In his discourse on hostilities in space, Lieutenant Colonel Singer emphasized that the Moon and the entire cosmos in the future may become the most suitable place for conducting hostilities.
According to another American high-ranking military, brigadier General Bouchi, it would be difficult to hit the missile bases on the surface of the moon, even if everything was known to their likely enemy. Because of this, military bases on the moon became an insoluble problem for any opponent of the United States. Even if the enemy went to launch a preemptive strike on the lunar base, he would have to do it 2,5 the day before the launch of the missile attack on the territory of the United States. In such conditions, a retaliatory strike from the moon became a reliable and massive means for influencing the aggressor.
The motives of such judgments of American officers and military specialists were explained by the head of the Special Arms Administration of the US Air Force as part of his speech to representatives of Congress. “I hate the very idea that the Russians will be the first to land on the moon. The country that turns out to be the first on the Moon is likely to get its hands on decisive advantages over any of its potential adversaries. ”
Obviously, President John F. Kennedy’s decision to start work on the Apollo civil project did not in many respects coincide with the plan of the specialists supervising the Horizon project and about to create a purely military object on the Moon. However, as a result, the Apollo project was implemented. 20 July 1969 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the module "Eagle" first landed on the moon. In the eyes of millions of viewers who watched the landing on the air, Neil Armstrong jumped from the last stage of the lunar landing module and took the first step on the surface of the moon. He stayed on the surface of the natural satellite of the Earth 2 hour 21 minute. Buzz Aldrin became the second person who happened to step on a celestial body, he made a kilometer walk on the surface of the satellite.
Information sources:
http://ria.ru/world/20140721/1016963600.html
http://kurs.ru/4/10209264
http://russian.rt.com/article/41803
http://ru.wikipedia.org
This project was mainly aimed at organizing surveillance of the planet from the surface of the natural satellite of the Earth. To some extent, the American plans today have been realized without the presence of lunar military bases: a large number of American reconnaissance satellites are currently flying around the Earth. The published report also stated that the Horizon project planned to create a weapon system capable of striking the Earth’s surface or in outer space, if necessary. According to published information, the Horizon project has reached the stage of discussing potential locations for the deployment of a lunar military base.
“The military base on the moon is necessary to ensure the protection and development of potential US interests on the Earth’s satellite; for the development of tracking techniques for the planet and the cosmos from the moon. This base should become a center for space exploration and the Moon, conducting scientific research and carrying out military operations on the Moon, if such are required, ”a report published by the US Army Ballistic Missile Agency reported.
For the construction of the lunar base, it was planned to attract 16 astronauts, as well as perform 150 orders of launching Saturn class rockets, which were to deliver more than 200 tons of various construction materials to space. In the future, the constructed object should have been protected by 12 by specially trained soldiers. For the base to function successfully, it had to get two small nuclear reactors. Within the framework of the Horizon project, even possible studies on the effects of radiation on alien life forms were discussed.
The authors of the project “Horizon” took their brainchild seriously enough, not considering the project as far from a possible realization of fantasy. They not only engaged in the selection of base deployment sites, but also justified the deadlines for solving the main technical tasks of the project, justified the necessary amount of costs. It was planned to deploy a military base on the moon in 5 stages:
1. The first return of lunar soil samples to Earth is November 1964 of the year.
2. The first astronaut landing on the moon and their subsequent return back to Earth is August 1967 of the year.
3. The time base on the surface of the moon on a 12 man is November 1967 of the year.
4. Completion of the construction of the lunar base on 21 man - December 1968 of the year.
5 Fully operational moon base - June 1969 of the year.
Two promising missiles were considered as the main means of cargo delivery: the Saturn I and the Saturn II. The designers believed that the first of them would be put into mass production as early as October of the 1963 of the year, and the second during the 1964 of the year. First, two astronauts would have landed on the lunar surface, who would have been there before the arrival of the first building batch of 9 people. After 6 months after that, the first, while temporary, base was supposed to start functioning on the surface of the Moon.
According to experts of the Air Force, the total cost of the Horizon program should have been on the order of 6 billions of dollars. This project was highly classified, but information was “leaked” from time to time, and some data about the Horizon project was made public even before the publication of the report on the 45 anniversary of the first man’s landing on the Moon. In many respects, the leaks were due to the fact that the project was simply decided to be abandoned.
At the turn of 1960, the theme of the military lunar base was popular in American specialized literature. For example, the magazine US News and World Report, expressing the dreams of some American generals, already in February 1958 wrote about plans to create a lunar base. At the same time, the representative of the US Department of Defense Edson noted that the seizure of "territories on the moon" should be the main goal of US foreign policy, as the "lunar fortress" can be the key to successfully resolving the competition on the planet. Another representative of the Pentagon, Brecker, said that the development of a map of US military bases on a natural satellite of the Earth, which covers 70 areas of the lunar surface, is underway.
On the pages of Air Force magazine in November 1958, Lieutenant Colonel Singer, who worked at the Air Force Special Weapons Center, said that purely from a military point of view, the basis of enemy deterrence may be the possibility of striking regardless of his actions. This suggested that our own forces would be either completely safe from a possible attack, or they would be organized in such a way that their elements that had survived the attack would strike at the enemy with monstrous power.
Hence the idea of placing rockets on the surface of the moon. In this case, the launch sites of the rockets could be under the lunar surface. The satellite’s topographic characteristics and the presence of a large number of cracks and craters on the lunar surface made it possible to select locations for the location of rocket bases. In his discourse on hostilities in space, Lieutenant Colonel Singer emphasized that the Moon and the entire cosmos in the future may become the most suitable place for conducting hostilities.
According to another American high-ranking military, brigadier General Bouchi, it would be difficult to hit the missile bases on the surface of the moon, even if everything was known to their likely enemy. Because of this, military bases on the moon became an insoluble problem for any opponent of the United States. Even if the enemy went to launch a preemptive strike on the lunar base, he would have to do it 2,5 the day before the launch of the missile attack on the territory of the United States. In such conditions, a retaliatory strike from the moon became a reliable and massive means for influencing the aggressor.
The motives of such judgments of American officers and military specialists were explained by the head of the Special Arms Administration of the US Air Force as part of his speech to representatives of Congress. “I hate the very idea that the Russians will be the first to land on the moon. The country that turns out to be the first on the Moon is likely to get its hands on decisive advantages over any of its potential adversaries. ”
Obviously, President John F. Kennedy’s decision to start work on the Apollo civil project did not in many respects coincide with the plan of the specialists supervising the Horizon project and about to create a purely military object on the Moon. However, as a result, the Apollo project was implemented. 20 July 1969 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the module "Eagle" first landed on the moon. In the eyes of millions of viewers who watched the landing on the air, Neil Armstrong jumped from the last stage of the lunar landing module and took the first step on the surface of the moon. He stayed on the surface of the natural satellite of the Earth 2 hour 21 minute. Buzz Aldrin became the second person who happened to step on a celestial body, he made a kilometer walk on the surface of the satellite.
Information sources:
http://ria.ru/world/20140721/1016963600.html
http://kurs.ru/4/10209264
http://russian.rt.com/article/41803
http://ru.wikipedia.org
Information