70 Years On, Crowd Gets Close to the Birthplace of the Atomic Bomb

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. — The stretch of New Mexico desert would seem endless if not for the mountain range looming high in the distance. It is the kind of place where drivers keep an extra close watch on their fuel gauge, and the closest neighbors are small towns, tiny specks of civilization, dozens of miles away.

Yet on Saturday morning, the two-lane road winding toward the White Sands Missile Range was clogged with minivans, cars and motorcycles, a snake of vehicles stretching for miles, inching its way through a checkpoint. Decades ago, the remoteness of this area in south-central New Mexico attracted scientists looking to test the most destructive weapon mankind had ever created, sending up a radioactive cloud that blistered the sky. Trinity Site, as it became known, was where the first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945, just weeks before two atomic bombs were unleashed on Japan, effectively ending World War II.

These days, the rehearsal stage for calamity has become a tourist attraction. Saturday was one of the rare days, typically twice a year, when the public is allowed onto the 55,000-acre site. The events can draw thousands; Saturday set a record with 5,534 visitors, including Boy Scout troops, classes on field trips and families.

Admission came with rules: Visitors were allowed to explore and photograph only in cordoned areas. Beware of rattlesnakes, the rules also warned, but not so much the radiation, which had fallen to levels low enough to no longer be a cause of concern. Still, a line formed to take selfies with a sign posted on a fence: “Caution Radioactive Materials.”

“This was on my bucket list,” said Robert Simpson, 65, a veteran of the Air Force, who came from Rio Rancho, outside Albuquerque, with his wife and friends. “It makes the story real. You can study the battles all you want — that doesn’t hit home. You have to go see the history.”