For DeepBlueC--One above-ground Atomic Bomb test, coming up!

[DFW]

Somewhere in Nevada, 1957 (pics by my father)

Ignition:

Start of fireball:

Developing mushroom cloud with varying degrees of telephoto:
1.)

2.)

3.)

[DeepBlueC]

1. pretty amazing to have pictures like that in the family album!

I'm glad I was nowhere near the test area, but I can tell you if an opportunity had been offered many in my family would have been crazy thrilled to accept... my Dad and my brother and me and my cousins Matt & Nancy for sure. Thanks DFW. :fistbump:

[hunter]

2. That's something I don't ever want to see.

My wife's dad saw one of those up close. It was an experiment to see how ordinary soldiers handled a nearby nuclear blast.

The guys who were especially contaminated got an extra scrubbing in the field showers.

Life didn't turn out well for some of them. My wife's father seems to have escaped any harm. Some were unlucky, some were lucky. I'm sure all of them were in the military to defend our nation, not to be treated like lab rats.

There's still enough radiation at the site that anyone needing access is escorted by radiation safety specialists.

It's sorta interesting to wander around the test site using the sattelite view of google maps. There are some very big holes there. But most of the radiation was released by above ground tests which didn't leave such obvious marks.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Nevada+Test+Site&vps=3&jsv=155c&sll=38.440682,-120.737&sspn=0.721743,1.234589&ie=UTF8&latlng=37116667,-116050000,1584018135392101053&ei=G8XvSYSTKYHmiwPVg_n7AQ&cd=1

[DFW]

4. I hear you on that one!

I am perfectly content to have pictures like these be part of historical
archives that will never again be duplicated in live events.

[Xipe Totec]

3. My compliments

and thank you for sharing those amazing pictures.