After the launch of Sputnik, the U.S. needed a response to show they had not fallen behind the Soviets during the Cold War. The Air Force put together a top-secret, very real plan under the name Project A119 to detonate a nuclear bomb on the surface of the moon for the rest of the world to see. Carl Sagan was brought in to do calculations on the blast radius and the Space Race almost went atomic. Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠the Softcore History Patreon⁠⁠⁠ for hundreds of hours of extra history content including episodes like this, listener voicemails, movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes.  Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to ⁠Quince.com/SOFTCORE⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Rob Fox⁠⁠ ⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/robfoxthree/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/RobFoxThree ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@robfoxthree ⁠⁠ Dan Regester ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/danregester/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices