The U.S. Space Force plans to test rockets in Johnston Atoll, approximately 800 miles from Hawaii. The locals are saying: Not this again.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. military conducted nuclear tests on this region in their race with the Soviets for nuclear weapons. They were known as Operation Hardtack and Operation Dominic. That area is still considered nuclear. Although there was no civilian population exposed to the tests, U.S. soldiers and contractors were knowingly exposed to radiation. There is video of them standing there to watch a nuclear test with zero protection.
The locals also say that this is a spiritual violation of the land and they don’t want it used this way. They say that the land is finally recovering from previous military use, which included “coral dredging, atmospheric nuclear testing and the stockpiling and burning of toxic chemical munitions — including more than 2 million gallons of Agent Orange.”
The U.S. Space Force under the Department of the Air Force claims it wants to use this land to test space cargo shipments “to help determine whether commercial rockets can transport military equipment more speedily around the globe, in hours rather than days to weeks that current modes of transportation require.”
