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Old December 13th 16, 04:00 AM posted to sci.space.history
Scott M. Kozel[_2_]
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Default The Space Race was about Power Projection - Miles O'Brien

On Monday, December 12, 2016 at 6:31:27 AM UTC-5, Stuf4 wrote:

Nuclear ICBMs are the only fielded weapon that has NEVER undergone an end-to-end test. They are far too lethal of a weapon to do that. The boosters have been tested, with no warhead. And the warheads have been tested, with no booster (or short range booster). But once you set up a booster with intercontinental range and put a nuke warhead up top and try to launch it, ALL your adversaries around the planet will have no idea of the actual destination of that rocket, so an easy assumption would be that it was headed for their land, and that they would need to retaliate immediately.

By simply *testing* a full-up ICBM, you would be starting a war.


How would any other country know that it had a nuclear warhead when it was launched?




JFK was explaining to James Webb that this was the way we test the system without starting a war.

~ CT