I think this is one for the Analogy Library, I came across it on a radio documentary. I think.
At one point, in the fifties, the United States Air Force developed a plan to explode a nuclear device on the moon. Partly, and I bet this was post-rationalised cover, for scientific reasons. But mostly to boost US morale after the Soviets took the lead in the space race. The idea was that you'd be able to see the explosion on earth.
Obviously the Soviet Union had a similar plan.