Here is footage of the US Government’s high altitude nuclear testing in 1962. The alleged purpose of the tests was to determine if US nuclear missiles could intercept Soviet nuclear missiles in Space.
Many have speculated that the testing was actually conducted to see if a ‘hole’ or ‘tunnel’ could be punched in the Earth’s lethal Van Allen Radiation Belts which might allow manned spaceflight to the Moon to proceed.
Thankfully, the tests ultimately failed to punch a hole in or disperse the Van Allen Radiation Belts. It’s a good thing, too! One wonders if all human life on Earth would have ceased rapidly without the the Van Allen Belts there to protect us from the Sun’s lethal radiation. In hindsight, maybe we all dodged a humongous bullet when this program ended…
Presumably, after these tests were completed in 1962, NASA knew a manned flight to the Moon would be impossible due to the lethal, unsolvable, space radiation problem.
JFK may have figured out the implications of these tests at some point. Did he consider ending the futile Moon Race, in favor of a different, less profitable, more realistic Space Program instead of Apollo? Did this factor into his assassination in 1963? NASA was/is very much a part of the dreaded ‘Military-Industrial Complex’ that Eisenhower had warned about as he left office. (‘Ike’, personally, did nothing to fight the ‘undue influence’ of these war profiteers while he was in office, however.)