Nuclear weapons testing

Atomic bomb explosion at Frenchman's Flat, Nevada. Original is oversize.

This photo of an unidentified nuclear test bomb was taken at a height of approximately twelve thousand feet - fifty miles from the detonation site. Two minutes after Zero Hour, the cloud rose to forty thousand feet, the height of thirty two Empire State Buildings. Ten minutes later, as it neared its' maximum, the cloud stem had pushed upward about twenty five miles deep into the stratosphere. The mushroom portion went up to ten miles and spread for one hundred miles. From: Photos used in the 1984 Truman Centennial Exhibit. United States Air Force Photo Number: K-KE 8325.

An oversized photo of an atomic bomb explosion on the Bikini Atoll test site. View is at sea level. Original photograph is in oversize file.

The experimental prototype of an atomic bomb called the Gadget waits at the base of the Trinity test tower near Alamogordo, New Mexico, before it lifted into firing position and successfully tested.