Tonopah Test Range Outpost of Sandia National Laboratories
Tonopah Test Range was established in 1957 by Sandia Corporation and it provided an isolated place for the Atomic Energy Commission to test ballistics and non-nuclear features of atomic weapons. This report is a brief review of historical highlights at Tonopah Test Range.
This brief review of historical highlights at Tonopah Test Range solicits corrections and additional memoirs from Sandians serving the range from 1957 to the present. The Los Lunas, Salton Sea, Kauai, and Edgewood testing ranges also receive abridged mention. Although Sandia's test ranges are the subject, the central focus, to the extent records permit, is on the people who managed and operated the range. Based on available unclassified materials, this paper seeks to encourage efforts by Sandia's managers to archive and preserve the range's documentary records, thereby enhancing historical resources for future study.