In November 1966, a projectile fired from a massive cannon reached an altitude of 180 kilometers—higher than any other projectile launched by a gun at that time. This record has remained unbroken for over half a century. The man behind this ambitious project was Gerald Bull, a Canadian aeronautical engineer who studied at the University of Toronto. His goal was to use gunpowder-based cannons to launch payloads into the upper atmosphere, an alternative to the expensive and complex rockets of the era. The project, called the High Altitude Research Project (HARP), was launched in 1961 after Bull secured funding from both the American and Canadian defense departments for a joint contract worth $10 million. To achieve his vision, Bull used a 16-inch (406 mm) naval cannon, originally designed for battleships. The cannon weighed 125 tonnes and was extended from 20 meters to 36 meters to increase the time the projectile was pushed by combustion gases. The choice of Barbados as a launch site was strategic, as its location near the equator allowed for a large area of the Atlantic Ocean to be used as a landing zone for the projectiles. The massive cannon was transported to Foul Bay Beach in Barbados in 1962, where it was moved to the HARP site via specially constructed train tracks. The first test firing occurred in January 1963, using a 315 kg projectile that reached 3,000 meters in 58 seconds. As the project progressed, Bull and his team improved the propellant and extended the cannon further, increasing the projectile’s speed and altitude. The record altitude of 180 kilometers was achieved not in Barbados but at a twin cannon built in Yuma, Arizona. On November 18, 1966, an 84 kg projectile called the Martlet 2 reached that height, exiting the cannon at about 2,100 meters per second. The HARP program was halted in 1967 due to financial and political pressures. The Canadian government and the U.S. military withdrew their support, influenced by internal conflicts, the Vietnam War, and NASA's preference for traditional rocket technology. Without funds to dismantle the equipment, the facilities remained in place. Today, the massive cannon tube still stands on a military base in Barbados, now used as part of a paintball field. After HARP ended, Gerald Bull continued his research in ballistics for two decades. He later became involved in a controversial project, the Babylone supercannon, intended for use by Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. On March 22, 1990, while returning home to Brussels, Bull was shot multiple times outside his apartment. The attack, widely believed to be a targeted execution, remains unsolved, and the perpetrators have never been officially identified.