Declassified documents reveal how US military planned surveillance station on Moon

The US military reportedly had plans to set up a surveillance station on the Moon once, declassified documents show.

According to Sky News, a 100-page document compiled in 1959 details Project Horizon, a plan to install a Moon-to-Earth surveillance system used to "facilitate communications with and observation of the Earth".

The report, which was released on the 45th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's historic moonwalk, revealed how the US intended to build a Moon-based weapons system allowing the military to launch attacks from the Moon towards targets on Earth.

The documents further showed that the military also planned on detonating a nuclear weapon on the Moon to study the effects it would have on alien life forms.

Meanwhile, another report named The Kidnapping of the Lunik revealed how American operatives stole a Soviet space capsule called the Lunik during a Soviet exhibition tour, and returned it later after gathering intelligence on Soviet space capability, the report said.