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To: dainbramaged

They also thought about using nuclear bombs as propulsion for rockets in the space program, called Project Orion.

Thank God that never went anywhere.


37 posted on 11/25/2012 4:59:17 PM PST by Shadow44
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To: Shadow44
They also thought about using nuclear bombs as propulsion for rockets in the space program, called Project Orion.

Actually, if you aren't trying to launch them from the surface, the nuclear pulse is still very much a serious consideration.
42 posted on 11/25/2012 5:04:03 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Shadow44
The Orion bombs would have been very small - on the order of less than a kiloton, but none would be used to launch it. Launch would have been by conventional means.

The fission detonations would only begin once Orion was above the atmosphere.

What killed it was a failure of political will. Otherwise, we would have been to Mars by 1965 and Venus by ‘73. An interstellar version was also planned with a crew of 265 or so.

We would have had successful colonies on both the Moon and Mars by now.

Instead we settled for third or fourth best alternative and ended up with the dangerous antiques: the Apollo and Space Shuttle. Both now dead.

As for blowing up the Moon - now or in the 50s - not a chance.

The largest fusion bomb ever detonated was by the Russians yielding 90 plus megatons. Many craters on the Moon were created by detonations in the millions of megatons for comparison. And the Moon is still there ...

69 posted on 11/25/2012 6:03:16 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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