A photograph of the first atomic bomb test of July 16, 1945 is displayed on a fence at Ground Zero at Trinity Base, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, July 5, 2005. The crater created by the explosion has long since been filled in, leaving only a nondescript stone obelisk, a few historical photographs and explanatory plaques, and barbed wire marking the spot that brought the world into the atomic age.
Robin Baker | AFP | Getty Images
washington — The U.S. Army said the upcoming Trinity Open House is expected to see “larger crowds than usual” due to the popularity of Universal Pictures’ “Oppenheimer.”
The Trinity site at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was the site of the world’s first atomic bomb test.
“Oppenheimer,” which debuted Friday to $82.4 million over the weekend, tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who oversaw the Manhattan Project, built the atomic bomb and ushered the world into the atomic age.
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The U.S. Army wrote on its White Sands Missile Range: “Due to the film ‘Oppenheimer’ being released in July, we expect a larger than usual audience for the Oct. 21 Open House” website.
“If you are not one of the first 5,000 visitors, you may not be able to go through the gates before they close at 2pm,” the statement said, adding that wait times were expected to be up to two hours.
Twice a year, the U.S. Army allows tourists to visit the site of the detonation of the Gadget, a six-foot-tall sphere with a powerful plutonium core the size of a grapefruit. Following its opening in October, the U.S. Army will once again allow visitors on April 6, 2024.
The bomb was born out of the Manhattan Project and launched under the codename “Trinity” – chosen by an inspired Oppenheimer british poet john donne.
(5:29:45 a.m. on July 16, 1945, when the most powerful weapon ever built was unleashed. Less than a month later, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, killing more than 100,000 people and ending World War II.
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