ATOMIC TESTING PHOTOGRAPHS
PHOTO No. DESCRIPTION
TRINITY Event - The TRINITY Test was the first atomic
test conducted by the United States. This test was detonated at
Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945.
XX-31
TRINITY Event - The first nuclear test ever conducted. The
TRINITY Event, a 19-kiloton tower test, was exploded July
16, 1945 in NM.
XX-18
TRINITY Event - Los Alamos, NM, the TRINITY fireball,
15 seconds after detonation of the first atomic bomb on July
16, 1945, rises into the air above the desert near the town of
San Antonio, NM.
XX-120
TRINITY Event - Los Alamos, NM, the fireball of the
TRINITY explosion, .053 seconds after detonation, as it shook
the desert near the town of San Antonio, NM, 16 July 1945.
XX-104
Operation Crossroads, ABLE Event - First atomic bomb test
at Bikini Lagoon, ABLE Day, 30 June 1946. The photograph
shows the radioactive cloud still boiling up toward its
maximum height of about 35,000 feet.
XX-121
Operation Crossroads, ABLE Event - The ABLE Event,
mushroom cloud attaining a height of 5 miles after the ABLE
test explosion at Bikini; ABLE test was one of the Crossroads
series, 30 June 1946..
XX-111
Operation Crossroads, BAKER Event - The BAKER Test
was detonated on the Bikini Atoll on 24 July 1946.
XX-71
Operation Crossroads, BAKER Event - Bikini BAKER
Day, the mushroom cloud and first stages of the base surge
following the underwater BAKER explosion at Bikini; water is
beginning to fall back from the column into the lagoon, 24 July
1946.
XX-113
Operation Sandstone - Atom bomb tests at Enewetak,
Marshall Islands, April and May 1948, Operation Sandstone.
Initial burst of an atom bomb during the experimental tests at
Enewetak.
XX-116
Operation Sandstone - Atom bomb tests at Enewetak,
Marshall Islands, April and May 1948, Operation Sandstone.
Detonation of an atom bomb during the experimental tests at
the Enewetak Proving Grounds.
XX-79
Operation Sandstone - Atomic bomb tests at Enewetak,
Marshall Islands, April and May 1948, Operation Sandstone -
the fireball of an atomic bomb explosion during the
experimental tests at Enewetak.
XX-109
Operation Sandstone - Atom bomb tests at Enewetak, April
and May 1948, Operation Sandstone, the fireball of an atom
bomb explosion emerges through cloud formation, forming
into mushroom during est at Enewetak.
XX-110
Operation Ranger - January - February 1951 (There were five
tests in this Series)
XX-08
Operation Buster-Jangle, CHARLIE Event - The
CHARLIE Event was a 14-kiloton device, was dropped from a
B-50 bomber on October 30, 1951 at Yucca Flat. The test, part
of the Buster-Jangle series, was the eighth detonation at the
Nevada Proving Grounds.
XX-27
Operation Buster-Jangle, EASY Event - The EASY Event,
part of Operation Buster, was a 31-kiloton weapons related
device detonated November 5, 1951 at the Nevada Test Site
(NTS).
XX-29
Operation Buster-Jangle - Nevada Proving Ground, fall 1951
atomic bomb explosion, MOUNTAIN-RINGED, an atomic
cloud mushrooms upward during the Joint Atomic Energy-
DOD Test Series (Operation Buster).
BJ-51-47
Operation Buster-Jangle - Nevada Proving Ground atomic
explosion; a dissipating atomic cloud dwarfs Army troops
observing a detonation in the Joint AEC-DOD Test Series, fall
1951.
XX-77
Operation Greenhouse, GEORGE Event - The GEORGE
Event, of the Greenhouse series, was a weapons related test
conducted from a tower on Enewetak on 8 May 1951.
XX-09
Operation Ivy, MIKE EVENT - The MIKE Event, of the
Operation Ivy series, was detonated on Enewetak on 31
October 1952. It was an experimental thermonuclear device.
XX-58
Operation Ivy, MIKE EVENT - The MIKE Event, of the
Operation Ivy series, was detonated on Enewetak on 31
October 1952. It was an experimental thermonuclear device.
XX-11
Operation Ivy, MIKE EVENT - The gigantic fireball from
MIKE -- the largest ever produced--measured 3.25 miles in
diameter 31 October 1952.
XX-51
Operation Ivy, MIKE EVENT - Atomic bomb explosion
taken at a height of approximately 12,000 feet, 50 miles from
the detonation site; mushroom cloud rose 40,000 feet ten
minutes after zero hour, 31 October 1952.
XX-80
Operation Ivy, MIKE EVENT - Photograph of atomic
explosion of MIKE Event, Operation Ivy, 31 October 1952.
XX-112
Operation Ivy, KING Event - The KING Event was
detonated on 15 November 1952, Enewetak Atoll.
XX-42
Operation Ivy, KING Event - The KING Event was
detonated on 15 November 1952, Enewetak Atoll.
XX-59
Tumbler-Snapper Operation, CHARLIE EVENT - Atomic
Test Site, Yucca Flat, NV, 22 April 1952; mushroom cloud
rises over Yucca Flat, as dust cloud begins to form below;
observers are shown in the foreground..
XX-78
Tumbler-Snapper Operation, CHARLIE EVENT - Atomic
bomb explosion immediately after H-Hour, 0930 hours, the
famous mushroom head cloud rises above the earth at the
Nevada Proving Ground, 22 April 1952.
TS 52-40
Operation Upshot-Knothole, ANNIE EVENT - a tower
event conducted on 17 March 1953.
XX-060
Operation Upshot-Knothole, ANNIE Event - Nevada
Proving Grounds, atomic blast at Yucca Flat, AEC Nevada
Proving Grounds, 17 March 1953; the smoke trails, made by
rockets are used in blast measurement calculations.
XX-60
Operation Upshot-Knothole, NANCY Event was a
weapons-related tower event detonated on 24 March 1953 at
the Nevada Test Site (NTS).
XX-65
Operation Upshot-Knothole, BADGER Event was a 23-
kiloton tower event detonated on 18 April 1953, at the Nevada
Test Site (NTS).
XX-34
Operation Upshot-Knothole, ENCORE Event - Nevada
Proving Ground, atomic detonation on 8 May 1953, at the
AEC=s Nevada Proving Ground.
UK 53-168
Operation Upshot/Knothole, GRABLE Event - The First
Atomic Canon - GRABLE was detonated on 25 May 1953.
XX-044
Operation Upshot/Knothole, GRABLE Event - The First
Atomic Canon - GRABLE was detonated on 25 May 1953.
315864
Operation Upshot/Knothole, GRABLE Event - The First
Atomic Canon - GRABLE was detonated on 25 May 1953.
UK-53-164
Operation Upshot Knothole, CLIMAX Event - The
CLIMAX Event was a 61-kiloton device detonated on 4 June
1953, at the Nevada Proving Ground (NPG).
XX-39
Operation Castle, BRAVO Event - The BRAVO Event was
an experimental thermonuclear device, 15- megaton weapons
related surface event. Detonated 28 February 1954 on Bikini
Atoll.
XX-92
Operation Castle, BRAVO Event - was detonated at Bikini
Atoll on 28 February 1954.
XX-92
Operation Castle, ROMEO Event - The 11- megaton
ROMEO Event was part of Operation Castle. It was detonated
from a barge near Bikini atoll on 26 March 1954.
XX-33
Operation Teapot, WASP Event - Nevada Test Site, NV -
The first event of Operation Teapot, the spring 1955 series of
nuclear tests at NTS, was detonated 18 February 1955.
Pictured is nuclear cloud forming from fireball.
XX-90
Operation Teapot, TURK Event - Nevada Test Site, NV -
The TURK Event was detonated on 7 March 1955 (30-35-
DPY-11-2).
TEA-55-018
Operation Teapot, BEE Event - Nevada Test Site, the 22
March 1955, Nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site .
XX-119
Operation Teapot, ESS Event - Nevada Test Site, Sub-
surface atomic event (23 March 1955), seventh in the 1955,
Teapot Series at the Nevada Test Site (NTS).
TEA-55-27
Operation Teapot, MET Event - Nevada Test Site, the 15
April 1955, atomic event at Nevada Test Site (NTS).
XX-114
Operation Teapot, MET Event - Nevada Test Site, the 15
April 1955 Atomic Test at Nevada Test Site.
TEA-55-47
Operation Teapot, APPLE-2 Event - Nevada Test Site, the 5
May 1955, AOpen@ Atomic Test at Nevada Test Site (NTS).
XX-118
Operation Teapot, APPLE-2 Event - Nevada Test Site, NV -
The APPLE-2 Event, a 29-kiloton tower test, was detonated on
5 May 1955 at the Nevada Test Site.
XX-45
Operation Teapot, APPLE-2 Event - Nevada Test Site, NV -
The APPLE-2 Event was detonated on 5 May 1955 at the
Nevada Test Site.
TEA-55-168
Operation Redwing, CHEROKEE Event - Fireball of the 21
May 1956 test detonation over Bikini Atoll, photographed
from the Control Ship, USS Estes, and showing formation of
the stem on the horizon.
XX-102
Operation Redwing, CHEROKEE Event - Fireball of 21
May 1956 test detonation over Bikini Atoll is shown as
photographed from an aircraft at an altitude of 10,000 feet,
approximately 50 miles SW of Ground Zero (GZ).
XX-107
Operation Redwing, CHEROKEE Event - Fireball of the 21
May 1956 test detonation over Bikini Atoll is shown here with
high cloud layer silhouetted in foreground.
XX-105
Operation Redwing, CHEROKEE Event - Fireball of 21
May 1956 test detonation over Bikini Atoll. This was
photographed from aircraft at 12,000 feet altitude and
approximately 50 miles NW of the target.
XX-106
Operation Redwing, CHEROKEE Event - Fireball of 21
May 1956 test detonation over Bikini Atoll. This was
photographed from aircraft at 12,000 feet altitude and
approximately 50 miles NW of the target.
XX-103
Operation Redwing, CHEROKEE Event - Fireball of 21
May 1956 test detonation over Bikini Atoll showing Cloud
Chamber effect of pressure changes in air. This was
photographed from aircraft at 12,000 feet altitude.
XX-91
Operation Redwing, CHEROKEE Event - Fireball of the 21
May 1956 test at Bikini Atoll a few seconds after detonation.
XX-117
Operation Redwing, CHEROKEE Event - Fireball of the 21
May 1956 test detonation over Bikini Atoll. This was
photographed from aircraft at 12,000 feet altitude about 50
miles NW of the target.
XX-98
Operation Redwing, CHEROKEE Event - Fireball of the 21
May 1956 test detonation over Bikini Atoll is shown with stem
forming at base. This photograph was exposed from an aircraft
at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
XX-108
Operation Redwing, SEMINOLE Event - The SEMINOLE
Event was detonated 6 June 1956 on Enewetak Atoll.
SEMINOLE had a yield of 13.7-kilotons.
XX-08
Operation Redwing, SEMINOLE Event - SEMINOLE, a
weapons related surface Event, was part of Operation Redwing
and was detonated 6 June 1956 at Enewetak Atoll.
XX-46
Operation Redwing, SEMINOLE Event - Operation
Redwing, 6 June 1956 (SEMINOLE Event surface burst
Enewetak).
XX-96
Operation Redwing, SEMINOLE Event - SEMINOLE, a
weapons related surface event, was part of Operation Redwing
and was detonated 6 June 1956 at Enewetak Atoll.
XX-48
Operation Redwing, DAKOTA - The DAKOTA Event, part
of Operation Redwing, was detonated from a barge at
Enewetak Atoll on 25 June 1956.
XX-43
Operation Redwing, APACHE Event - The APACHE Event
was detonated from a barge on 8 July 1956, on Enewetak
Atoll.
XX-35
Operation Redwing, APACHE Event - The APACHE Event
was detonated from a barge on 8 July 1956 on Enewetak Atoll.
XX-36
Operation Plumbbob, BOLTZMANN Event - The
BOLTZMANN Event was a 12-kiloton test detonated from a
tower on the Nevada Test Site 28 May 1957. BOLTZMANN
was a part of Operation Plumbbob.
XX-40
Operation Plumbbob, BOLTZMANN Event - A photograph
of NATO observers attending BOLTZMANN Event (28 May
1957) detonation at Nevada Test Site.
XX-122
Operation Plumbbob, FRANKLIN Event - The
FRANKLIN Event was a 140-ton tower test detonated on 2
June 1957 at the Nevada Test Site.
315860
Operation Plumbbob, PRISCILLA Event - The
PRISCILLA Event was a 37-kiloton balloon test detonated on
24 June 1957 at the Nevada Test Site.
XX-12
Operation Plumbbob, PRISCILLA Event - The
PRISCILLA Event was a 37-kiloton balloon test detonated 24
June 1957 at the Nevada Test Site.
XX-10
Operation Plumbbob, HOOD Event - The HOOD Event,
was conducted at the Nevada Test Site on 5 July 1957, it was a
74-kiloton device exploded from a balloon.
XX-03
Operation Plumbbob, DIABLO Event - The DIABLO Event
was detonated on 15 July 1957, at the Nevada Test Site from a
500 foot tower. It had a yield of 17-kilotons.
XX-15
Operation Plumbbob, JOHN Event - An air-to-air missile
test code- named JOHN was detonated on 19 July 1957 as part
of the Operation Plumbbob series.
XX-30
Operation Plumbbob, STOKES Event - The STOKES
Event, conducted at the Nevada Test Site on 7 August 1957,
was a 19-kiloton device exploded from a balloon.
XX-01
Operation Plumbbob, DOPPLER Event - The DOPPLER
Event was conducted on 23 August 1957 at the Nevada Test
Site. It was a balloon test at 1500-feet with a yield of 11-
kilotons.
XX-02
Operation Plumbbob, DOPPLER Event - Nevada Test Site,
23 August 1957, the 13th. Event of Operation Plumbbob,
code-named DOPPLER, is shown immediately after
detonation at 5:30 AM PDT, from a balloon at an altitude of
1500 feet.
XX-115
Operation Plumbbob, SMOKY Event - The SMOKY Event
was detonated on 31 August 1957.
XX-70
Operation Plumbbob, SMOKY Event - The SMOKY Event
was a weapons related tower test, detonated on 31 August
1957 at the Nevada Test Site.
XX-64
Operation Plumbbob, FIZEAU Event - The FIZEAU Event
was a 11-kiloton tower test detonated 14 September 1957 at
the Nevada Test Site.
XX-14
Operation Plumbbob, FIZEAU Event - Nevada Test Site,
the cloud from FIZEAU, 19th nuclear event of the summer of
1957 test series (14 September 1957), begins its ascent to a
height of about 40,000 feet.
PLU 57-101
Operation Plumbbob, CHARLESTON Event - The
CHARLESTON Event, part of Operation Plumbbob, was
detonated from a balloon on 28 September 1957.
XX-16
Operation Hardtack I, UMBRELLA Event - The Umbrella
Event was detonated on 8 June 1958 at the Enewetak Atoll.
XX-32
Operation Hardtack I - Thermonuclear detonation during the
Pacific tests in 1958, Hardtack-I Operation.
XX-93
Operation Hardtack I - Thermonuclear detonation during the
Pacific tests in 1958, Hardtack-I Operation.
XX-88
Operation Hardtack I - Thermonuclear detonation during the
Pacific tests in 1958, Hardtack-I Operation.
XX-97
Operation Hardtack I - Thermonuclear detonation during the
Pacific tests in 1958, Hardtack-I Operation.
XX-82
Operation Hardtack I - Thermonuclear detonation during the
Pacific tests in 1958, Hardtack-I Operation.
XX-100
Operation Hardtack I - Thermonuclear detonation during the
Pacific tests in 1958, Hardtack-I Operation.
XX-81
Operation Hardtack I - Thermonuclear detonation during the
Pacific tests in 1958, Hardtack-I Operation.
XX-83
Operation Hardtack I - Thermonuclear detonation during the
Pacific tests in 1958, Hardtack-I Operation.
XX-123
Operation Hardtack I - Thermonuclear detonation during the
Pacific tests in 1958, Hardtack-I Operation.
XX-96
Operation Hardtack I - Thermonuclear detonation during the
Pacific tests in 1958, Hardtack-I Operation.
XX-99
Operation Hardtack II, EDDY Event - Nevada Test Site,
EDDY Event first detonation of 1958 fall series (19 September
1958) at the Nevada Test Site. This event was detonated from
a balloon 500- feet above Yucca Flat (Hardtack-II).
XX-101
Operation Hardtack II, EDDY Event - Nevada Test Site,
EDDY Event, first event of the 1958 fall series on 19
September 1958, at the Nevada Test Site. This event was
detonated from a balloon 500- feet above Yucca Flat.
XX-95
Operation Hardtack II, LUNA Event - Nevada Test Site,
debris and flames from the safety experiment, LUNA, rises
over the desert at the Nevada Test Site, 21 September 1958
after the device was detonated.
XX-89
Operation Hardtack II, DeBACA Event - A mushroom
cloud rises from the desert floor at the Nevada Test Site. The
nuclear test, named DeBACA, was a balloon burst detonated
26 October 1958. Since July 1962, all NTS weapons tests have
been underground.
XX-17
Operation Hardtack II, BLANCA Event - Nevada Test Site,
underground nuclear detonation BLANCA of the Operation
Hardtack II series, 1958 October.
XX-87
Operation Hardtack II, BLANCA Event - Nevada Test Site,
underground nuclear detonation BLANCA of the Operation
Hardtack II series, 1958 October.
XX-85
Operation Hardtack II, BLANCA Event - Nevada Test Site,
underground nuclear detonation BLANCA of the Operation
Hardtack II series, 1958 October.
XX-86
Operation Hardtack II, BLANCA Event - Nevada Test Site,
underground nuclear detonation BLANCA of the Operation
Hardtack II series, 1958 October.
XX-84
Operation Hardtack II, BLANCA Event - Nevada Test Site,
underground nuclear detonation BLANCA of the Operation
Hardtack II series, 1958 October.
XX-94
Nuclear history in less than two-thousandths of a second is
recorded by a camera capable of speeds in excess of 15,000
frames per second. This sequence, taken at the Department of
Energy=s Nevada Test Site in 1958, shows a low-yield
detonation atop a 50- foot wooden tower. The camera was
located less than 2,000-feet from Ground Zero.
XX-62
PLOWSHARE PROJECT, SEDAN Event was part of the
Plowshare Program at the Nevada Test Site. It was detonated
on 6 July 1962. Heavier particles began falling back to earth as
the main cloud continued to rise. The base surge of dust began
to roll along the desert floor.
XX-13
