1963 was a year full of great events for humanity. But due to numerous events worthy of history, the one we will remember today has been unfairly forgotten. This is one of the most bizarre and stupid US missions in space.

Please, maybe this wasn’t the dumbest mission, considering both the Russians and the Americans detonated atomic bombs in orbit between 1958 and 1962, just to see what happened and show each other their nuclear muscles. But still, the one we are talking about is also not too far away.

We are talking about the full Cold War and the beginning of the space race, with all its more famous and lesser known aspects. Among these aspects, we must mention the satellite race, which began with the launch of a Russian satellite into orbit in 1957. In this climate, the Americans were hysterical, as I said, and imagined that attacks could come from anywhere. And communications were crucial. A Russian attack on submarine cables would disrupt American radio communications in the event of a conflict.

Now that the Russians also have a satellite, who knows what else could happen and how they might jam the last communication option. It should also be emphasized that the American space agency NASA was still in the dark. It was only created in 1958, and the space rockets of Werner von Braun, a former SS officer, were only on paper. In addition, NASA rockets were controlled by generals, which radically changed these problems.

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Thus, in 1958, the Needles project, later named West Ford, appeared in the laboratory of a military base near Boston. But what this project meant, how it was implemented and what its consequences are, and today we invite you to find out in the new edition of the 2nd season of the “Strange Stories” podcast.

Plot: Adrian Nicolae | Sound design: Adi Jacob

Music: EpidemicSound | Image: Jim Pringle/AP/Profimedia (edited)

Archive: Kennedy – Nixon Debate (1960)