"Take a big metal plate," Curtis said. "Big and thick. Make it a hemisphere, but it could even be flat. Put a large ship, say the size of a battleship, on top of it. You want a really good shock absorber system between the plate and the ship.
"Now put an atom bomb underneath and light it off, I guarantee you that sucker will move." He sketched as he talked. "You keep throwing atom bombs underneath the ship. It puts several million pounds into orbit. In fact, the more mass you’ve got, the smoother the ride."
And Williams didn't "screw the pooch." He did as asked and taped a message on the topic for use by NASA at a later date. The screw up was when that taped message was transmitted in the clear over a channel open to eavedropping. Dare we suggest that the presstitute who got this scoop is guily of a warrantless wiretap?
But I love the comment "I guarantee you that sucker will move."
The best line in the book was when they launched.