White Sands to hold Oct. 5 open house at nuclear bomb site

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. – White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico has scheduled an Oct. 5 open house at Trinity Site, the second of two such events planned this year.

Trinity Site is where the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated July 16, 1945.

Range officials said the open house is free and that no reservations are required. Entry will be allowed from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Visitors can walk to ground zero where a small obelisk marks the spot where the bomb was detonated. Historical photos are mounted on the fence surrounding the area.

Visitors can also ride a shuttle bus to travel the 2 miles (3 kilometres) from ground zero to ranch houses where scientists assembled the bomb’s plutonium core.