A number of engineering problems were found, and solved, over the course of the project. Many of these related to crew shielding and pusher-plate lifetime. The system appeared to be entirely workable, and was under serious development in the United States, when the project was shut down in 1965. The primary reason given was that the Partial Test Ban Treaty made it illegal to detonate nuclear explosions in space (before the treaty, the United States and the Soviet Union had already detonated at least nine nuclear bombs, including thermonuclear bombs, in space; i.e., at altitudes over 100 km).