In March 1959, the US Army initiated a top-secret feasibility study called Project Horizon for establishing a manned military outpost on the Moon. By June 1959, the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (involving Wernher von Braun's team) produced a multi-volume report proposing a self-sustaining base for 12–20 personnel, targeted for operation by December 1966.
Key elements included:
- Nuclear reactors for power and life support
- Buried cylindrical habitats and sealed natural lunar caves for protection against radiation and micrometeorites
- Low-yield atomic weapons for defense (including adapted Davy Crockett recoilless guns)
- Over 100 Saturn rocket launches for construction and resupply
- On-site resource utilization for water and oxygen
The stated rationale was national security: to protect US interests on the Moon, develop moon-based surveillance and communications, and prevent Soviet claims. The report emphasized that being second would be "disastrous" to US prestige.
The project never advanced beyond the study phase. Responsibility for the space program shifted to the newly created civilian NASA, President Eisenhower rejected the military-focused plan, and the 1967 Outer Space Treaty later prohibited military bases and weapons on celestial bodies. The detailed reports were eventually declassified.
This episode highlights an alternative path in Space Race historiography — one where the Moon was viewed primarily as a military asset rather than a symbol of peaceful scientific exploration. It raises questions about how much of the official Apollo-era narrative was shaped by downplaying or redirecting earlier military proposals, and whether similar classified lunar ambitions continued behind the scenes.
by No_Money_9404