Trinity Site to open for visitors April 2
Sun-News Reports
lcsun-news.com
LAS CRUCES - White Sands Missile Range will open Trinity Site to the public for an open house on April 2.
Trinity Site is where the world's first atomic bomb was tested at 5:29:45 a.m. Mountain War Time July 16, 1945.
The open house is free and no reservations are required. At the site visitors can take a quarter-mile walk to ground zero where a small obelisk marks the exact spot where the bomb was exploded. Historical photos are mounted on the fence surrounding the area.
Visitors can ride a missile range shuttle bus two miles from ground zero to the Schmidt/McDonald Ranch House. The ranch house is where the scientists assembled the plutonium core of the bomb. Visitors will also be able to experience what life was like for a ranch family in the early 1940s.
The simplest way to get to Trinity Site is to enter White Sands Missile Range through its Stallion Range Center gate, which is five miles south of U.S. Highway 380.
The turnoff is 12 miles east of San Antonio, N.M., and 53 miles west of Carrizozo, N.M. The Stallion Gate is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors arriving at the gate between those hours will be allowed to drive unescorted the 17 miles to Trinity Site. The road is paved and marked. The site closes promptly at 3:30 p.m.
For information on the open house or questions about REAL ID and access to the range for the open house, visit the Trinity Site website at http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/Trinity/Pages/Home.aspx or for the most current information concerning state-by-state compliance with the REAL ID Act, visit https://www.dhs.gov/real-id-public-faqs.