Nazi's on the Moon

Many of us have heard the conspiracy theories regarding secret Nazi bases hidden deep in the Antarctic or seen crazy movies about Nazi’s occupying the moon laying in wait. But did you know that in a way, the Nazi’s made it to the moon? Not literal Nazi’s of course, that would be absolutely insane and every conspiracy theorists dream. No, the fact I am about to share with you was bestowed upon me from my history teacher on my last ever lesson with him and is the wonderful culmination of several decades of history all wrapping up into one incredible mind-blowing, if a little controversial, fact.

In August 1945 the United States of America detonated atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to put an end to the Second World War. The nuclear weapons, named “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”, contained radioactive materials Uranium and Plutonium, respectively. “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima, followed a few days later by “Fat Man” over Nagasaki. Weaponry like this had not been used nor seen before, and the destructive nature was far more powerful that could be imagined. Over 200,000 civilians were killed; half of the deaths were caused by the initial blasts, and over the following four months the rest died from burns, injuries, and radiation poisoning. Not only did the radiation levels increase significantly in the two sites, but the background radiation around the entire world was increased.

The increased radiation would wide had a profound effect on the steel manufacturing industry. All steel produced after the detonation of the two bombs was, and still is, contaminated with radionuclides (radioactive particles) from the atmosphere. This contamination weakens the metal, so it is not as strong as the steel produced before the explosions. However, the metal could still be used for everyday use.

Two decades later, in the 1960’s, the great space race in underway with America aiming to put the first man on the moon. To do this, however, they must first build a shuttle which can survive the harshness of space. They needed strong metal to hold its shape in a vacuum, not become brittle in sub-zero temperatures, and not melt during re-entry into the atmosphere. What they needed was metal that had not been weakened by the atomic blasts twenty years ago. They needed metal which had been manufactured prior to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, but as so much time had passed, most of this metal had been used.

During the second world war, before the atomic blasts, submarine warfare was used. Unfortunately, some of these were discovered and targeted by enemy fire, resulting in the submarine sinking. German engineering is known for being at a very high standard, and the U-boats that sank were made of very solid metal despite the hulls being breaches from torpedo fire. This metal was manufactured before the atomic blasts hit, so is much stronger than any metal produced afterwards.

The sunken U-boats remained at the bottom of the ocean for many years until the American space program was able to recover the metal and use it to build a sturdy shuttle for space exploration. On 16th July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went down in history for successfully landing on the moon. So not only did man make it to the moon, but they did it using materials from Nazi submarines. And so, the next time a conspiracy theorist tells you that Nazi’s made it to the moon, you can say there is a small grain of truth in it. Man made it to the moon using sunken Nazi submarines.