Project Horizon was the U.S. Army’s 1959 plan to place a military Moon Base on the lunar surface by 1965. The lunar outpost was required to develop and protect potential United States interests on the moon. And to establish techniques in moon-based surveillance of the earth and space, in communications relay, and operations on the moon’s surface.
So what happened to Project Horizon, and the Army’s plan to have a manned Moon Base?
First, the technological challenges were more complicated than the authors of Project Horizon had thought. It was also considerably more expensive. A Manhattan Project-scale effort might have worked. But it would have required a considerable increase in the U.S. government’s expenditures on defense. And, as the alarm over Sputnik dissipated. There seems to have been declining political interest in funding a military base on the lunar surface.
Second, the development of the war in Vietnam also siphoned off energy and money that might have gone to Project Horizon.
And finally, any future American military presence on the lunar surface became an impossibility when the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union signed an outer space treaty in 1967.
This was formally recognized as the “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.” And this international agreement limited the use of the moon to only peaceful purposes.
In summary, the militarization of the moon was no longer an alternative. And it remains an impossibility since this international treaty is still in effect.
It took until 1969 before a man Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong would take a giant leap for humankind on the lunar surface. But there is still no base of any kind there. While Project Horizon is largely forgotten today, it remains a great idea whose time never came.
What Was Project Horizon?
It was early 1959, and Army Lt. Gen. Arthur G. Trudeau, the author of those words, was tasking the Army’s chief of artillery to produce meaning for a “manned lunar outpost. ” It should “protect potential United States interests on the moon.”
And The story behind this secret study named “Project Horizon”). And the plan to have a base on the moon by 1966 is a great idea whose time has never come.
When Lt. Gen. Arthur G. Trudeau wrote the ordnance chief, it was less than a year after the Soviets had shaken America and the West with the launch of their Sputnik satellite.
Space Race
The United States was now clearly behind in the so-called “Space Race” with the Soviets. It should come as no surprise that Lt. Gen. Arthur G. Trudeau and many senior Army leaders were talking about a military presence in outer space, in general, the moon in particular.
And according to a 118-page monograph created by the Army in June 1959. “to be second to the Soviet Union in establishing a Moon Base on the lunar surface would be destructive to our nation’s prestige and also to our democratic philosophy.”
Red Army on The Moon
And, since the Soviet Union had already declared that its citizens and therefore presumably the Red Army would be on the lunar surface in 1967, the United States needed to get there first.
The idea was to build a self-sustained moon base that would work as an outpost for the lunar surface exploration and further exploration of the Moon and space. The lunar base. –which would hold 10-20 personnel, would be the “first permanent manned installation on the moon” and, maybe most importantly, would give a platform for the U.S. Army, if needed, to carry out “military operations on the moon.”
Building a Moon Base
The U.S. Army maintained that there were no known technical barriers to building an operated Moon Base. And they believed that Project Horizon “should be a unique project. Having authority and position similar to the Manhattan Project during World War II.”
If the United States had built the nuclear bomb, there was no real reason that it couldn’t put a handful of soldiers on the lunar surface. Project Horizon considered using the multistage Saturn II rocket. And then under actual development, and intermediate orbiting stations to transport construction materials to the Moon.
75 Saturn II Rocket Launches
The U.S. Army reasoned that 75 Saturn II rocket launches could be achieved by the end of 1964. And with only forty of these launches needed to put enough Project Horizon equipment into space for the Moon base’s construction.
As for the Moon Base itself, the technicians and scientists who took part in Project Horizon recommended that natural “holes” or “caves” could be sealed and covered with pressure bags to build living space on the Moon.
And this sort of production also had the attraction of reducing the danger from meteorites and mitigating temperature extremes on the Moon’s surface.
A Buried Cylindrical Building
Furthermore, drawings in the U.S. Army research also show a buried cylindrical building that included living quarters. And also an airlock to the lunar surface. And as for power, it would be provided by nuclear or solar energy. Water and oxygen could be extracted from the natural lunar environment. Military personnel assigned on the Moon would wear spacesuits and carry unique weapons and tools developed expressly for moon-use.
The Army also proposed a “unified space command” to manage the Moon Base and “that portion of outer space surrounding the earth and the moon.” There appears little uncertainty that the Army officers who pushed Project Horizon saw a U.S. Army general as the ideal choice to lead such a unified command.
To Deploy Lunar-Based Weapons Systems
The advocates of Project Horizon claimed that America’s ultimate goal on the Moon should be to deploy lunar-based weapons systems. Because moon-based military power would be a powerful deterrent to war since an attacker would have great difficulty in stopping U.S. retaliation.
It was because the enemy, the Soviet Union, would have a hard time reaching the Moon. And, if U.S. forces were already present, they could counter or neutralize any antagonistic force that might land.
This was also why American military forces must reach the Moon first and establish a military outpost. The enemy could counter any U.S. attempt to land on the lunar surface “if hostile forces were permitted to arrive first.”
So, on this 51st anniversary of Apollo 11 mission, there is a widespread misunderstanding that America’s plans to land on the lunar surface began with President Kennedy’s historic “before this decade was out” speech to Congress in May 1961.
However, the shock of the Soviet’s Sputnik had pushed the U.S. military to start thinking about lunar landings years earlier. Now we know why and how this was planned.
Thanks for reading. If you want to know more about Neil Armstrong, then head over to this extensive guide named; Neil Armstrong First Man On The Moon.