On July 16, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb was detonated approximately 60 miles north of White Sands National Monument.
Today, visits to the site are sponsored by the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce and WSMR on the first Saturdays of April and October. The rest of the year the site is closed to the public because it lies within the impact zone for missiles fired into the northern part of WSMR.