WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT - WHITE SANDS MISSLE RANGE

Up and out early again on Tuesday, but not until going to the nearby Alamogordo Walmart for a big hat. The large brim would block more sun than my Predators cap. And this is a very rare photo. I cannot think of the last time I posted a picture of myself on holiday. I look so happy.
Got to the White Sands National Monument a little before 8:00 a.m.
Climb up this little rise to see...
...sand! Lots of sand!
Yuck, a yucca.
Nothing but white sand and little plants. Even the road at this point is a bumpy washboard sand road.
A popular activity seems to be sledding down the dunes.
It's almost like an alien landscape.
Okay, empty the sand from your shoes and let's head down the road a bit to another White Sands location.
This would be the White Sands Missile Range. It is a military base, so I had to check in. I couldn't drive in, so I parked and walked in.
Geez, yesterday I had to be careful about snakes. Today it's potentially contaminated explosive devices. New Mexico sure is a dangerous place.
The reason for stopping by the WSMR was to see the museum. It's not much of one, but it was kind of interesting.
So the crash alarm sounds when there is a missile mishap. Whoopsie, we had a mishap. Better sound the alarm.
The army sure got good use out of their label maker. They have red labels all over this thing.
The writing is small in the picture, so I'll tell you what is in these barrels from 1963. 10 rolls of toilet tissue 1 can opener 1 commode liner, polyethylene 60 sanitary napkins 1 hand cleaner 1 paid of gloves, polyethylene 1 syphon spout 1 tie wire 1 commode seat 80 cups and lids 1 instruction sheet 1 chemical commode I assume the instruction sheet tells how to assemble the commode and not how to use the toilet tissue.
I am old enough to remember the Office of Civil Defense. There are instructions on the outside on how to fill the barrel with 17.5 gallons of water, how to dispense the water and how to reuse the barrel as a commode.
I am also old enough to remember when Americans thought that communism was a bad thing. Unfortunately, it seems like far too many young people who don't know any better (and older people who should) have a favorable opinion of the idea these days.
What are these little rocks, you ask? It's called trinitite, a greenish glassy substance that covered much of the depression made by the atomic blast of Trinity near Alamogordo on July 16, 1945.
And yes, it's radioactive.
HEDI HEDI HEDI ho! The HEDI is the High Endo-atmospheric Defense Interceptor, a ground-based non-nuclear interceptor for terminal defense.
This is a V-2 rocket, originally German technology, but after the war both the Americans and Soviets gained the capability to build them
Staring down the business end of a rocket.
Back outside (in the relentless sun) there is a large exhibit of missiles and stuff. You may recognize the good old Patriot missile from the Gulf War. Written on the base of the launcher is "Scud buster", "If it flies, it dies" and "First to fire".
I tried to take pictures of misses that I have heard of. This is the Pershing II, a ballistic missile produced between 1981 and 1989.
Okay, not a missile but a cinetheodolite called a Contraves Electro Optical Tracking System. It was used to track missiles through their course of trajectory and observe its in-flight behavior.
This is a model of the original Fat Man bomb casing, the original of course being dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
Come on down to Crazy Charlie's Missile Mart, where we have just the missile for you! Whether you are looking for a smaller model or a massive weapon, Crazy Charlie's is your one-stop shop. Conveniently located just off of Highway 70 near Alamogordo. And remember, free balloons for the kids!
There was no sign for this, but I think this might have been stands where people would sit when watching a missile test. Then again, maybe they just use it for their base football games.
The MK 5 Guided Missile Launcher. Can't really tell you much about it. It looks kind of cool.
Shout out to the U.S. Air Force. The Athena was used to test IBM re-entry vehicles, simulating the trajectories of intercontinental misses.
It's a flying saucer! I didn't need to go to Roswell to see a UFO. There's one right here! Where are the little green men? I want to sing the Close Encounters song to them. Nanu nanu. Live long and prosper. Wait, I'm being told this is a Balloon Launched Decelerator Test Vehicle used to test the Viking Mars Lander Decelerator in a simulated atmosphere of Mars.
More missiles and rockets, with a beautiful mountain backdrop.
You ain't nothing but a hound dog. No, that's the name of this thing, the Hound Dog, Strategic Aid Command's first air-launched missile in 1960.
The Redstone was the Army's largest surface-to-air ballistic missile. Modified Redstone rockets launched America's first satellite and first human into space. Developed by Werner Von Braun, it is a direct descendant of the V-2.

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