When the US Army Wanted to Build a Moon Base<br>
Project Horizon was shuttered due to cost overruns. Had it succeeded, it would have militarized the lunar surface as well as the space domain.
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union compelled both sides to devise comprehensive grand strategies aimed at achieving victory. Those strategies bordered between visionary and delusional—and often what separated one from the other was pure luck and the gumption of the Cold Warriors involved in implementing them.
One such plan, which sounded brilliant but proved absurd, was the 1950s-era proposal by the United States Army to establish a military base on the moon.
Project Horizon, conceived in 1959—the height of the Cold War—was one of the initial American responses to the shocking Sputnik launch in 1957. The audacious plan envisioned a permanent, manned military outpost on the moon by 1966.
What’s more, in the ensuing humiliation of having lost the first round of the Space Race to the USSR with the Sputnik launch, the Army wanted to restore both America’s confidence as well as its deterrence by placing military assets on the moon before the Soviets could.
The Origins of Project Horizon
The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), along with leading figures such as the Army’s Chief of Research and Development from 1958 to 1962, Lieutenant General Arthur Trudeau, and none other than the former Nazi-turned-godfather of America’s space program, Wernher von Braun, championed Project Horizon.
Among the primary objectives were: first, the demonstration of US technological superiority; second, to establish a strategic foothold upon the ultimate high ground of the Earth-Moon System; third, to conduct bleeding-edge scientific research; fourth, to enable reconnaissance of the Earth below, and lastly, to potentially place strategic weapons on the moon.
These ideas were among the many military concepts that the Pentagon was toying around with when it came to the moon (another was to detonate a thermonuclear warhead on the moon to send a signal of resolve to Moscow in the wake of the Sputnik launch).
This was not mere posturing on the part of the Army. Many decades after the project ended, the program was declassified, and a detailed blueprint for a potential Army lunar outpost was released. The base was designed to house 10–20 personnel, primarily military, in a self-sustaining facility powered by nuclear reactors. The outpost would consist of modular habitats buried under lunar regolith for protection against radiation, micrometeorites, and extreme temperatures.
Key components included living quarters, laboratories, communication systems, and a rudimentary defense system.
The construction plan relied on an ambitious schedule using Saturn rockets (precursors to the mighty Saturn V heavy-lift rockets that eventually took NASA’s astronauts to the moon).
The Mechanics and Cost of Project Horizon
An estimated 147 launches between 1964 and 1966 would be required for delivering personnel, equipment, and supplies, with an initial two-person outpost expanding to a fully operational base by 1966. Cargo would include prefabricated modules, life support systems, and vehicles for lunar surface operations.
The program would cost an estimated $58 billion in 2022 dollars. Of course, given the ambitious nature and complex needs of this unique mission, it is likely that the costs would have, if you’ll pardon the expression, skyrocketed over time.
Something similar happened with the Manned Orbital Laboratories (MOL), which were planned to serve as both manned orbiting satellites as well as tripwires in space, to deter the Soviets from targeting sensitive American space systems by having US military personnel on those systems.
The MOL program was ultimately canceled during the Nixon administration, on the eve of its first launch, because the White House showed how the real costs of the program had outstripped the Pentagon’s initial projections. Ultimately, the administration determined that unmanned satellites could perform those missions as well—if not better—and more cost-effectively than the MOLs could. Something similar may have occurred with Project Horizon had it made it beyond the conceptual phase of planning.
Project Horizon was possibly the most detailed military space program proposal to emanate from the Department of Defense. It was a reflection of Cold War anxieties about Soviet technical and scientific prowess, as well as the militarized approach of the Eisenhower administration (despite Ike’s concerns about the growing military-industrial complex).
Project Horizon’s Many Hurdles
By 1961, the John F. Kennedy administration was entering office with an entirely different approach to space exploration than what had come before. JFK wanted the civilian-run NASA to take the lead and avoid the overt militarization of space. Thus, the Project Horizon was shelved.
It was not just the change in presidential administrations that squelched the program, though. Inter-service rivalries plagued the program from the beginning. Both the newly formed NASA and the Air Force competed for control of space initiatives.
Ever since the National Security Act of 1947 separated the Air Force from the Army, the Army’s role in space has become increasingly marginalized with each passing year. By 1961, the Army’s attempts to stay relevant in the space domain seemed laughable, given its mandate and the existence of both NASA and the Air Force.
More importantly, the technologies that Horizon needed to succeed were still in their infancy. At the time the project was proposed, the United States lacked even the capability for sustained lunar missions. Additionally, the Apollo program at NASA was still in its early stages of development and would require several years to mature.
So, the Army had an ambitious vision but lacked the means to implement it. Moreover, the sheer volume of launches and the complexity of constructing a self-sustaining base on the moon presented their own unique set of challenges that the Army could not overcome.
Impractical and overshadowed by NASA’s Apollo program, the program later would have been in breach of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 (which banned nuclear weapons and military bases on celestial bodies). Nevertheless, the project’s detailed planning demonstrated the feasibility of lunar habitation. It was itself a pioneering study in next-generation concepts, including lunar base design, radiation shielding research, understanding artificial life support, and lunar logistics, which remain relevant even today as the United States and China race to put more people on the moon.
What Can NASA Learn from Project Horizon?
Indeed, both NASA’s flailing Artemis program and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are, however slightly, influenced by the research initiated during Project Horizon. More importantly, it is hard not to ponder what might have been had the political authorities in Washington followed through on this daring strategy.
Yes, it would have meant a more militarized space environment. However, with the full backing of the US government and the genuine concern that America might lose the space race to the Soviets, permanent American bases on the moon might have come into fruition far sooner than one might think.
Had these facilities been built by 1966, the amount of knowledge, resources, and technological innovations acquired over time as a result of a permanent lunar installation would have more than compensated for any expenditures and political controversies that arose at the time of its creation.
Instead, we’ve left the moon open to whomever else wants to go up there and take it. Ye Peijian, head of China’s lunar program, once revealed that he views “the universe as an ocean” and “the moon as the Diaoyu Islands.”
While the Outer Space Treaty bans the acquisition of lunar territory for military purposes, China has a history of ignoring international law, especially those that protect the sovereignty of smaller countries, like the Philippines. China has had no problems violating the territories of its neighbors, impinging on international shipping routes, building illegal artificial islands in the South China Sea, and filling them with Chinese military equipment and troops.
Washington would be foolish to think that China will simply abandon the moon the same way America did. Having permanent bases there, as Project Horizon called for in the late 1950s, would have prevented this. Let’s hope current American leaders learn the hard lessons of yesteryear before losing the new space race to a communist state.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a contributor at Popular Mechanics, consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, The Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed on Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Corona Borealis Studio / Shutterstock.com.
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