on the morning of July 16,at 5:29:45 a.m., the Manhattan Project come to an
explosive end as the first atom bomb was successfully tested at Trinity Site at
the Alamogordo Bombing Range ( renamed The White Sands Missile Range) 
in the desert 120 miles south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The scientists and a
few dignitaries had removed themselves 10,000 yards away to observe as
the first mushroom cloud of searing light (above) stretched 40,000 feet into
the air and generated the destructive power of 15,000 to 20,000 tons of
TNT. The tower on which the bomb (below) sat when detonated was
vaporized.
    
 

Pictured above is the first atomic bomb, nicknamed " the Gadget”.