Project A119 was a top secret research plan formulated by the US Air Force in 1958, details of which only emerged in 2000. What was its goal?
Answer: To fire and detonate a nuclear weapon on the moon. Also entitled ‘a Study of Lunar Research Flights’, it was developed to be visible from earth, in order to boost American morale at a time when the Soviet Union was leading the space race.
Source: Lunar Exploration by Chaochen Zhou