Science: A Shot at the Moon

A military moon base from which a handful of earthlings dominate their native planet—or perhaps watch with despair its radioactive devastation by nuclear war—is a familiar staple of science fiction. But the moon base will not be fiction for long, says Air Force Lieut. General Donald L. (for Leander) Putt. Last week in Washington he told the House Armed Services Committee how the U.S. Air Force plans to become the U.S. Space Force and eventually occupy the moon.

First step, said Putt, one of the Air Force's topflight aviator-engineers (Carnegie Tech, Caltech), will be to use existing ballistic missiles to boost Sputnik-type...