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First atomic bomb test site, Trinity Site, open house canceled amid government shutdown
Four Japanese Buddhist monks arrive ahead of a procession at the marker of the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico on Aug. 9, 2005
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In the shadow of a federal government shutdown, the site where the first atomic bomb was tested will not be open to the public this year.
Located on White Sands Missile Range, the Trinity Site is where the U.S. Army detonated the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945. This year is the 80th anniversary of the test.
In the past, the site was open to visitors twice a year. Last year, White Sands Missile Range transitioned to one open house per year. But this year, the site will not open at all.
The open house was scheduled for Saturday, but White Sands Missile Range announced last week it would be canceled. According to Aerospace PR consultant Anne Marie Chadima, the government shutdown is the reason for the cancellation.
The Trinity Site was declared a national historic landmark in 1975 and includes the location where the bomb was detonated, the base camp where scientists lived and the McDonald ranch house, where the bomb’s plutonium core was assembled.
The first Trinity Site open house in 1953 attracted 650 people, according to a U.S. Army site history. For the 70th Trinity anniversary in 2015, more than 5,500 visitors attended the April open house, according to an Army news release.
During the federal government shutdown, the missile range will still have available: emergency services; child and youth services programs; family, morale, welfare and recreation programs; Army and Air Force Exchange Service; commissary; and the Family Advocacy Program under Army Community Service, according to a missile range announcement.
The Army Community Services programs are limited and the White Sands Missile Range Museum will be closed.
