This page features articles, posts, blurbs, and other informational pieces related to WSMR History. If you would like to submit an article related to White Sands Missile Range history to be published on our website, please send us an email at usarmy.wsmr.museum@mail.mil.
Misty Castle: High-Explosive Nuclear Effects Simulations at White Sands Missile Range
Once military officials began to understand the many hazards and variables that accompany a nuclear blast, such as intense heat, radiation and fallout, and the explosion itself, they initiated programs designed to protect their own forces and citizens. Protective personal equipment, hardened shelters, and radiation-resistant armored vehicles became a standard part of a military unit’s…
The Corporal Family of Rockets and Missiles
On the surface, the Corporal family was a collection of early American-developed ballistic missiles that initially weren’t very militarily significant. However, it was the vehicle on which various management and subcontracting philosophies could be tried and training of personnel from procurement through field operations could be conducted.
The Path to Hembrillo
“The Apache did not recognize the new borders which came into being when the US acquired the southwest after the war with Mexico… These new borders between the US and Mexico, as well as New Mexico and Arizona, caused some difficulty for the US Army.”
Sleeping Beauty Awakens
LASL’s Sleeping Beauty was an experiment on the design of an alpha-n initiator – the first in a series of such tests. Equipment was located in an underground bunker at Trinity Site in the New Mexico desert, some 250 miles south of Los Alamos – and only 1,600 feet from ground zero of a spectacular…
Operation Paperclip at Fort Bliss: 1945-1950
Germany’s use of its V-1 jet-powered flying bombs and V-2 rockets during the latter stages of World War II ushered in the era of guided missiles. After the war, as tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union increased, both countries sought to develop their own arsenal of guided missiles.
The 200th Coast Artillery Regiment and the Bataan Death March
“We’re the battling bastards of Bataan; No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam; No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces; No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces. And nobody gives a damn. Nobody gives a damn.”
“The Voice of Freedom (radio broadcast) kept telling us, ‘Hold out for two more days, help is on…
History of the 1st Guided Missile Brigade
In World War II, Allied Intelligence warned us that our enemy had developed a new kind of weapon, a missile unique in that it was guided electronically and powered by a rocket motor. This weapon was called the V-2. Later on, during the war, our Army captured the first of a number of these weapons.…
In 1970, An Athena Missile Went Deep Into Mexico
On 11 July 1970, Athena missile number 122 was launched from Green River, Utah, in the middle of the night. Like the previous firings, which the Air Force began in 1964, this Athena was programmed to impact on White Sands Missile Range. Instead, project and range personnel watched helplessly as it rocketed south heading deep…
Green River: The Utah Launch Complex
Explore the remnants and learn the story of a United States military missile testing laboratory from the height of the Cold War (1962-1974) hidden in the canyon lands outside of Green River, Emery County, Utah.
The Early Development of the Nike Missile
Named after the goddess of victory of Greek mythology, Nike is the end product of eight years of guided missile research, development, and engineering. Nike is the Army’s first supersonic anti-aircraft guided missile designed to follow and destroy the enemy target regardless of evasive action. It is the first guided missile system to defend American…
Editor Jumps Deeply Into Trivia Rabbit Hole
If White Sands was established on July 9, how likely was it that there would already be buildings in place that very day, a staff already on site, a flag pole surrounded by a circle of rocks, ambulances for the ceremony and spectators? It dawned on me that we are talking about magic for that…
Making History 75 Years Ago At White Sands
For a 15 March 1946 German V-2 rocket demonstration, Lt. Col. Harold Turner, first commander of White Sands Proving Ground, invited 500 military personnel and 100 Las Cruces community leaders to watch. Although it was a static firing, meaning the rocket was bolted down, it was the first time a V-2 rocket motor was ignited…
The 1983 War Scare
Some of the weapons tested at WSMR had a great impact not only for their military uses, but in a larger geopolitical context. One of these is the Pershing II missile and the role it played in the 1983 “War Scare.” Because of President Ronald Reagan’s heated anti-Soviet rhetoric, fears the Soviet Leadership and KGB…
Life at Los Alamos
In November, 1942, Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and Colonel John Dudley visited Jemez Springs, near the Valles Caldera – a large volcanic crater and field in northwest New Mexico. Having considered other locations for the creation of a laboratory, the group found themselves in this remote part of New Mexico in pursuit of a location to…
The V-2 Program: Operation Backfire to the Hermes Project
Although America was slow to recognize the work of Doctor Robert Hutchings Goddard, his work was well known in Germany where experimenters had designed the V-2 rocket engine using his ideas. There was evidence that the Germans had followed Dr. Goddard’s work closely from his first published paper. It was apparent that the V-2 rocket,…
A Brief History of White Sands Proving Ground, 1941-1965
By May 22, 1945, the first captured V–2 rocket components were being transported to Antwerp for shipment to the new Proving Ground. By June 30, evacuation of Peenemünde personnel to the United States was approved. Actual construction at WSPG began on June 25, with water-well drilling. Camp construction began on June 29, with the re-erection…
Project Galileo Testing at White Sands Missile Range
On December 7, 1995, an aerodynamic probe containing an array of scientific instrumentation was launched toward the large gaseous planet Jupiter to perform the first-ever direct measurements of its atmosphere. It took this probe, along with a companion orbiter, about 6 ½ years to travel from the earth to the largest planet in our solar…
Lure of Gold Leads Prospectors to Texas Canyon
By Jim Eckles, WSMR Public Affairs Office Edited by Jenn Jett, Museum Specialist It looks like a jagged scar that angles up the mountain from the golf course and then disappears as it jogs south toward Texas Canyon. The trail is visible from most places on the main post, but few people know it once…
The White Sands Missile Range Museum’s Missile Park
Listed below are the missiles, rockets, and other items in our outdoor display next to the White Sands Missile Range Museum. The park is open during daylight hours, seven days a week. The park may be closed due to inclement weather. Aerobee 170Sounding RocketUS Navy Aerobee HiSounding RocketUS Navy MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS)Surface-to-Surface…
The Hermes Program
By Darren Court, Museum Director/Curator and the WSMR Public Affairs Office Edited by Jenn Jett, Museum Specialist Program Summary The Hermes program was the Army’s second missile program, started in November 1944 in response to the German V-2 program, with the purpose of determining the missile needs of the field forces. With General Electric as…
M712 Copperhead
By Jenn Jett, Museum Specialist The M712 Copperhead was developed at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico and first fired in 1972. The Copperhead was developed as a high-explosive, laser-guided, anti-tank projectile that was fired from a standard M114, M777, or other 155mm howitzer and is considered to be the first “smart artillery round,” officially…
The Trinity Test Site
The scientists, technicians, and engineers began arriving in March of 1945 as the pace and scale of operations grew each day. Originally designed to hold 160 people, it eventually held close to 300 and needed to be expanded. At its peak a week before the detonation, there were about 325 engineers, scientists, technicians and soldiers…
A Brief History of Rocketry – Early Rockets to Goddard
The earliest rockets were Chinese. They developed crude rockets attached to a stick by 900 A.D. These “arrows of flying fire” were used to repel Mongol invaders at the Battle of Kai-Fung-Fu In 1232. Traveling the Silk Road across Asia, and other trade routes, rockets – called “rochetta” – were seen in Italy by 1379.…
NASA at White Sands Missile Range
By Darren Court, Museum Director/Curator Edited by Jenn Jett, Museum Specialist The Redstone, designed by the German rocket team at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama and first flown in 1958, was the Army’s largest nuclear capable missile, capable of carrying a warhead a distance of 200 miles. By the early 1960s, NASA began looking for a vehicle…
Von Braun, the V-2, and Slave Labor
By Darren Court, Museum Director/Curator Edited by Jenn Jett, Museum Specialist Contents Warning: This post contains graphic imagery. Viewer discretion is advised. The Beginnings of the American V-2 Program The US Army Center of Military History’s White Sands Missile Range Museum holds one of the most complete, original V-2 rockets in the world today. Developed…