Publications Details

Tonopah test range - outpost of Sandia National Laboratories

Johnson, L.

Tonopah Test Range is a unique historic site. Established in 1957 by Sandia Corporation, Tonopah Test Range in Nevada provided an isolated place for the Atomic Energy Commission to test ballistics and non-nuclear features of atomic weapons. It served this and allied purposes well for nearly forty years, contributing immeasurably to a peaceful conclusion to the long arms race remembered as the Cold War. This report is a brief review of historical highlights at Tonopah Test Range. Sandia`s Los Lunas, Salton Sea, Kauai, and Edgewood testing ranges also receive abridged mention. Although Sandia`s test ranges are the subject, the central focus is on the people who managed and operated the range. Comments from historical figures are interspersed through the narrative to establish this perspective, and at the end a few observations concerning the range`s future are provided.