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Trinity site.

US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Trinity Site is located on White Sands Missile Range and is closed to the public. Twice a year, the US Army hosts a Trinity Site Open House when the public may visit Trinity Site. 

On July 16, 1945, the atomic age began. Manhattan Project scientists detonated the first atomic device, known as “the Gadget,” at 5:29 am Mountain War Time at the Trinity Site in the Jornada del Muerto desert of New Mexico.  

For the Project Trinity test, the bomb was placed atop a 100-foot (30.48 m) tall steel tower that was designated Zero. Ground Zero was at the foot of the tower. Equipment, instruments, and observation points were established at varying distances from Ground Zero. The wooden observation shelters were protected by concrete and earthen barricades, and the nearest observation point was 5.7 miles (9.17 km) from Ground Zero. 

An incredible flash of light illuminated the sky as air temperatures rose to over 9,000oF (4982oC). Within seconds, witnesses saw the first mushroom cloud ever created by atomic weaponry. To most observers—watching through dark glasses—the brilliance of the light from the explosion overshadowed the shock wave and sound that arrived some seconds later. A multi-colored cloud surged 38,000 feet (11.58 km) into the air within seven minutes. Where the tower once stood was a crater one-half mile (804 m) across and 8 feet (2.43 m) deep. Sand in the crater was fused by the intense heat into a glass-like solid, the color of green jade. This material was given the name trinitite. The explosion point was named Trinity Site. 

Although no information on the test was released until after the atomic bombings of Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945, the flash of light and shock wave made a vivid impression over an area with a radius of at least 160 miles (257.49 km). Kenneth Bainbridge, director of the Trinity Test, called it “a foul and awesome display.” Despite months of speculation and wondering over what would happen, “the atom bomb did not fit into any pre-conceptions possessed by anybody,” according to future Los Alamos National Lab director Norris Bradbury. After three years of directing the project’s scientists and much anxious chain smoking at the Trinity Site, Robert Oppenheimer simply said to his brother, “it worked.”    

After the explosion, Trinity Site was encircled with more than a mile (1.6 km) of chain-link fencing. Signs were posted to warn people of radioactivity. By 1953, much of the radioactivity had subsided, and the first Trinity Site open house was held in September of that year. 

In 1965, Army officials erected a monument on Ground Zero. In 1975, the National Park Service designated Trinity Site as a National Historic Landmark. The landmark includes base camp, where the scientists and support group lived; the McDonald ranch house, where the plutonium core was assembled; as well as Ground Zero. 

Continue Your Journey 

K-Site, Q-Site, and L-Site were critical locations for studying and understanding implosion before the Trinity Test. Learn more about the history of the Manhattan by visiting the Bradbury Science Museum ! The museum’s interactive exhibits share stories from the project and provide a glimpse of other “behind the fence” historical sites. 

Manhattan Project National Historical Park

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Last updated: March 17, 2023

Trinity Site Offers a Rare Chance to Visit Ground Zero of the World’s First Atomic Bomb Explosion

The detonation site is only open to civilians twice a year

Jennifer Nalewicki

Travel Correspondent

July 16, 1945 was a day that changed the world forever. At 5:29 a.m. Mountain War Time, just minutes before sunrise, the night sky above central New Mexico was illuminated in a brilliant fireball of white light as the U.S. military tested the world’s first atomic bomb . Called Trinity Site and located on the grounds of the White Sands Missile Range about 70 miles west of Alamogordo, the site is typically off limits to civilians—but on October 7, visitors can experience it firsthand during its biannual open house.

Held on the first Saturday of every April and October, the open house is the only opportunity the public has to access the missile range, which normally serves as an active site for the U.S. Army to test out new weaponry. During the open house, visitors can see ground zero, where the plutonium-based A-bomb was detonated more than 70 years ago as part of the Manhattan Project . The open house also includes a visit to the McDonald Ranch House, a 1913 adobe home built by Frank Schmidt, a German immigrant, and where the device’s plutonium core was assembled.

Today, a monolith marks ground zero along with what’s left of the footing of a 100-foot tower that military personnel used during the detonation. Also on view: photos taken during the explosion, and the leftover bomb casing from “ Fat Man .”

“Most of the tower was vaporized during the explosion,” Drew Hamilton, a public information and community relations specialist for White Sands Missile Range, tells Smithsonian.com. “Since the explosion, much of the surrounding area has more or less returned to the way it would naturally be. There are no bushes growing around ground zero, but it’s because we regularly mow it. If we didn’t, it would look like the rest of the landscape.”

Visitors may also come across crumb-size pieces of Trinitite, a rock-like byproduct leftover from the explosion known for its glassy texture and deep green hue. (Since White Sands is a national monument, however, visitors are prohibited from removing anything from the site.)

And while Trinity Site has been cleaned up since the atom bomb detonation, its  radiation levels  remain above that of naturally occurring background levels. To put this into perspective, Hamilton gives the following example:

“Radiation is everywhere, it’s a naturally occurring phenomenon,” he says. “But it’s a little bit higher [at Trinity Site as compared to] the surrounding territory. During a one-hour visit, you’ll be exposed to approximately half a millirem of radiation. In comparison, during a flight aboard a commercial airliner from New York City to Los Angeles, you’ll be exposed to 2 millirems. You’ll get the same exposure from the Trinity Site as you would if you ate eight bananas, which, because of their potassium content, are naturally radioactive.”

This year’s Trinity Site open house will take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on October 7. Admission is free and reservations are not required. Pets are allowed and must be leashed. To reach Trinity Site, take exit 139 off Interstate 25 to State Highway 380 and drive east 12 miles to Stallion Gate. Make sure to bring a valid ID to show at security checkpoints. Drivers should be prepared to provide proof of insurance. 

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Jennifer Nalewicki | | READ MORE

Jennifer Nalewicki is a Brooklyn-based journalist. Her articles have been published in The New York Times , Scientific American , Popular Mechanics , United Hemispheres and more. You can find more of her work at her website .

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Things to do: Trinity Site Open House

The open house is free. At the site, visitors can take a quarter-mile walk to ground zero.

Once at the site, visitors also can ride a missile range shuttle bus 2 miles to the Schmidt/ McDonald ranch house. The ranch house is where scientists assembled the plutonium core of the bomb.

The recommended way to get to Trinity Site is to enter White Sands Missile Range through its Stallion Range Center gate on April 2. Stallion gate is 5 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 during each open house from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The site closes at 3:30 p.m.

The other way of visiting the site is to caravan from Tularosa. The caravan forms at the Tularosa High School football field parking lot and leaves at 8 a.m. It is a 75-mile drive to the site from Tularosa and there are no service stations on the route. The caravan is led by military police once it gets onto the missile range.

Click here for more information about visiting the  Trinity Site .

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Trinity Site Open to the Public – CANCELED

Date(s): Saturday April 6, 2024 Time: 8:00 am - 2:00 pm Location: White Sands Missile Range

“On July 16, 1945 the world changed with the explosion of the first atomic bomb. The explosion took place at Trinity Site which is on what is now White Sands Missile Range. Trinity is a national historic landmark which is currently open to the public twice a year.”

Visit the TRINITY SITE’s website for more information.

The City of Socorro Transportation Department will be providing shuttle services to Trinity Site at White Sands Missile Range.

Depart Socorro:   8:00 am   (Socorro Transportation Office , 201 Church Street) Depart Trinity Site:   11:00 am Return to Socorro by 12:00 noon.

Must reserve your ride.    $2.00 a person Call Socorro Public Transportation to schedule your ride.    575.835.1501

-Kenneth Bainbridge, physicist

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Visitors tour New Mexico atomic site in likely record attendance fueled by ‘Oppenheimer’ fanfare

FILE - Scientists and other workers rig the world’s first atomic bomb to raise it up onto a 100-foot tower at the Trinity Test Site near Alamogordo, N.M. The New Mexico site where the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated is expecting thousands of visitors Saturday due to the popularity of the movie, “Oppenheimer.” Trinity Site, a designated National Historic Landmark, only opens to the public twice a year. (AP Photo/File )

FILE - This photo shows an aerial view after the first atomic explosion at the Trinity Test Site near Alamogordo, N.M., on July 16, 1945. The New Mexico site where the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated is expecting thousands of visitors Saturday due to the popularity of the movie, “Oppenheimer.” Trinity Site, a designated National Historic Landmark, only opens to the public twice a year. (AP Photo, File)

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WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (AP) — Visitors lined up Saturday to tour the southern New Mexico site where the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated in what officials believe could be a record turnout amid ongoing fanfare surrounding Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film, “ Oppenheimer .”

Thousands of visitors are expected at the Trinity Site, a designated National Historic Landmark that’s usually closed to the public because of its proximity to the impact zone for missiles fired at White Sands Missile Range. But twice a year, in April and October, the site opens to spectators. No attendance numbers were immediately available at midnight Saturday. In a social media post, the missile range said vehicles were lined up for more than 2 miles at the site before the tours started Saturday.

White Sands officials warned online that the wait to enter the gates could be as long as two hours. No more than 5,000 visitors are expected to make it within the window between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Visitors also are being warned to come prepared as Trinity Site is in a remote area with limited Wi-Fi and no cell service or restrooms.

“Oppenheimer,” the retelling of the work of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II, was a summer box office smash. Scientists and military officials established a secret city in Los Alamos during the 1940s and tested their work at the Trinity Site some 200 miles (322 kilometers) away.

Part of the film’s success was due to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon in which filmgoers made a double feature outing of the “Barbie” movie and “Oppenheimer.”

While the lore surrounding the atomic bomb has become pop culture fodder, it was part of a painful reality for residents who lived downwind of Trinity Site . The Tularosa Basin Downwinders plan to protest outside the gates to remind visitors about a side of history they say the movie failed to acknowledge.

The group says the U.S. government never warned residents about the testing. Radioactive ash contaminated soil and water. Rates of infant mortality, cancer and other illnesses increased. There are younger generations dealing with health issues now, advocates say.

The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium has worked with the Union of Concerned Scientists and others for years to bring attention to the Manhattan Project’s impact. A new documentary by filmmaker Lois Lipman, “First We Bombed New Mexico,” made its world premiere Friday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival.

The notoriety from “Oppenheimer” has been embraced in Los Alamos, more than 200 miles (321 kilometers) north of the Tularosa Basin. About 200 locals, many of them Los Alamos National Laboratory employees, were extras in the film, and the city hosted an Oppenheimer Festival in July.

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Last updated: December 6, 2023

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Trinity tour expected to draw thousands to White Sands

Story by John Larson, El Defensor Chieftain | Mar 30, 2023

The Trinity Site brings thousands of visitors to White Sands when it is open for visitors twice a year. The first open-to-visitors-day this year will be Saturday, April 1. File photo | El Defensor Chieftain

The nuclear age was born on former Socorro County ranch land some 34 miles southeast of San Antonio on July 16, 1945. This Saturday, April 1, the Trinity Site can be visited firsthand during the semiannual open house from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Visitors to the site’s April and October open houses have steadily grown over the past dozen years. A turnout of over 5,000 participants is not unusual. Although no record is kept of where attendees come from, license plates in the sprawling parking lot account for dozens of states.

The simplest way to get to Trinity Site is to enter White Sands Missile Range through its Stallion Range Center gate. The turnoff is 12 miles east of San Antonio at the historical marker, and the Stallion gate is five miles south.

The Stallion Gate is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors arriving between those hours will be allowed to drive the 17 miles to Trinity Site unescorted. The road is paved and marked.

Alternate access to the open house is from Alamogordo via a caravan that leaves from the Tularosa High School athletic field parking lot. Due to the annual visitor increase, the Alamogordo caravan is only open to the first 125 vehicles. The limit is necessary to maintain a safe environment en route to Trinity Site. Once at the site, vehicles must leave through the Stallion Gate. There is no caravan back to the Tularosa High School football field parking lot.

The 51,500-acre area was declared a national historic landmark in 1975. The landmark includes ground zero where the bomb exploded; the base camp where scientists and support staff were housed; the remains of one of the tower columns; and the Schmidt/McDonald ranch house south of the site where the core of the bomb was assembled.

In addition, one of the old instrumentation bunkers is still visible beside the road just west of ground zero.

Although radiation levels are low, some feel any extra exposure should be avoided. The decision is yours.

It should be noted that small children and pregnant women are potentially more at risk than the rest of the population. They are generally considered groups who should only receive exposure in conjunction with medical diagnosis and treatment.

Typical radiation exposures for Americans per the American Nuclear Society:

• One hour at Trinity Site ground zero – one half mrem
• Cosmic rays from space – 47 mrem at Denver per year, 28 mrem at St. Louis
• Radioactive minerals in rocks and soil – 63 mrems per year on Colorado Plateau
• Radioactivity from air, water and food – about 240 mrem per year
• About six mrem per chest X-ray, 65 mrem per hip X-ray, and 110 mrem for a CAT Scan
• Watching television – less than one mrem per year
• Wearing a plutonium-powered pacemaker – 100 mrem per year

The site closes promptly at 3:30 p.m. Visitors must have a Real ID card, U.S. passport, or military ID to enter.

John Larson, El Defensor Chieftain

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