 This series of scenes taken from actual nuclear weapons tests in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s gives a quick look at a project being undertaken by the Department of Energy in cooperation with the Department of Defense to preserve and release historic films. The Department of Energy, in keeping with the administration's openness initiative, will use many previously classified and unreleased historic nuclear weapons testing films as part of its effort to detail an audiovisual history of the nuclear age. The nuclear weapons testing program has led to today's sophisticated nuclear weapons stockpile. Join us now at Trinity as the first nuclear device is prepared for detonation. Anchored in the sheltered waters of the Bikini Lagoon below is an array of almost every type of naval vessel used in the past war. A bombing crew was competitively chosen. Major Swan cut the pilot. Major Wood, the Bombadier. The B-29 Dave's dream would carry them to the target. The bombing plane is nearing the target with its escort of photographic planes. There's the target. Bomb away! Atomic bomb has been successfully detonated. First you see a blinding flash, then comes the hemispirically shaped cloud that expands rapidly just behind the initial pressure wave. After the smoke clears, the characteristic mushroom cloud begins to form and shoot skyward. It puts in smoke of the explosion. Although obscured during the first two seconds, the ball of fire is still visibly red hot. The maximum temperature reached at the center of this ball, shortly after detonation, exceeds even the temperature of the sun. In less than a minute it has reached a point one mile above the earth. Although a beautiful sight, this swirling, boiling mushroom cloud is certain death to any living thing which approaches too close to its edge. On Bikini Island, over three miles from the point of burst, see the shockwave coming toward the camera. Watch those palm trees in the foreground. 50 yards from the epicenter. This ship's a stained, serious superstructure wreckage. Both stacks were a total wreck, and numerous other topside structures were badly damaged. The submarine's skate was located about 300 yards from the epicenter. The light fixtures, periscopes, and superstructure were demolished, but the pressure hull and conning tower remained intact. An interior machinery was undamaged. Four, three, two, one. These pictures of the ascending water column show the expanding cloud of spray at the base of the column moving outward and enveloping the ships in the target array. Great quantities of radioactive water from the column descended upon the decks of the nearby vessels, and ship hulls a mile away were drenched by the wall of foaming water. Photographic tower on Bikini shows the column composed of millions of tons of water rising at an initial rate exceeding the speed of sound. The water and spray from the explosion will fall for several minutes. Here again is an excellent photographic portrayal of the boiling foaming wall of water engulfing the ships in the foreground. This highly lethal spray was intensely radioactive. An advanced element of Joint Task Force 7 is surveying AEC's permanent test ground any we talk at all. More than 4,500 miles west of the California coast, with test time only moments away, final time signals are called by Colonel Price. Split seconds, separators from the detonation. It was decided to have a fourth test called the booster shot and was detonated on a 200-foot tower. Booster was then ready for detonation. Now for a look at the booster shot. Today, whatever you are, whatever you do, wherever you may go, you are a part of atomic warfare. It involves you, personally, in laboratories and in the field, in little-known places and ways. Units of the defense establishment of the United States are learning to work with atomic weapons, learning to strike, learning to fence against the effects of atomic weapons, blasts, heat, light, radiation. Military units work continuously with the laboratories of the Atomic Energy Commission and their new weapon ideas. The services devise handling equipment and techniques that are practical and delivery methods that are deadly under any and all conditions of weather and warfare. Thirteen minutes from now, this airplane is going to drop an atomic bomb on your country. You will see it happen. A fierce international war rips through a small country on the North Yellow Sea called Korea. Russia has successfully detonated an atomic bomb. Now the Alamogordo of the Ural Valley is a fact. Now more than ever before, the balance of international power rests with atomic energy. With weapons moving steadily from assembly line to stockpile, moving to hidden subterranean vaults to be stored, ready and waiting. But stockpiling alone in this day and year is not enough. We need to develop and produce a greater number and variety and possibly even more powerful atomic weapons, weapons tailored for specialized uses and targets. The biography of every atomic cloud is essentially the same. The intense heat and violence of the fireball as it sears the sky causes the spectacular and colorful rust-like condition in the air around it. As the fireball cools, an enormous vacuum and after-wind is created, causing the desert floor to rise up into the cloud itself to form the characteristic mushroom stem. The cooling also sets up a rapid condensation in the air around the fireball that sometimes produces layers of ice crystals, literally an ice cap. Knowledge gained on previous nuclear weapons tests has produced the theory that once the cloud has formed and stabilized in the sky, the vitally significant fission products in so-called unburned fission fragments don't distribute themselves evenly, but tend to collect in very large invisible pockets, hot pockets, or cells inside the cloud. The particles that are suspended in these nebulous cells indicate many things that happen inside the bomb, as well as the efficiency of the fission reaction. So attempting to locate the cells and collect samples from them is a mission of the highest priority. We reenter our display areas close to ground zero, once RADSAFE okays us for the move up. Since the biggest value of the operation is for us to prove to ourselves that it can be done and find any weak points in the training, psychiatrists are with us to study our reactions before, during, and after the experience. It's quite an experience, no matter where you are to watch it. This kind of experience is immensely valuable for any military man. Participation in cactus supplied low yield coral soil data for comparison with results obtained in Nevada soil from shots of similar yield. Provided high yield data for comparison with low yield cactus data obtained in similar soil. Successful measurement of neutron flux and spectra were made for a number of ranges. In the structural effects studies on the B-52, sufficient data were collected to substantiate a correlation between measured and analytical responses. This will establish a workable and reliable side load computation procedure. Yucca, the first of the three high altitude shots, was prepared and launched from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Boxer. At 1125 hours on 28 April, when the Yucca balloon was released, the USS Boxer was operating about 90 nautical miles northeast of Nann Island, Bikini Atoll, maintaining a deckwind velocity of near zero. Two and one-half hours later, 1440 hours, at an approximate altitude of 85,000 feet, Yucca was detonated by radio command signal. Failure of the telemeter command transmitter to activate the canister instruments prior to burst time resulted in almost complete loss of data from the balloon drag line equipment. The aircraft mounted instrumentation provided excellent data. The teak and orange missile shots were fired from Johnston Island about 720 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu. Each device was sent aloft by an Army redstone missile. Attached to each missile were four pods released during the acceleration phase of the redstone. Three of the pods contained telemetry equipped instrumentation for the nuclear program. The fourth pod, programmed to be closest to the detonation, was utilized primarily for studying the vulnerability of ICBM structural materials. The first of the two missile shots, teak, was launched on 1 August. It was planned to detonate at 250,000 feet, approximately six miles south of Johnston Island. However, due to a programming failure, it burst directly over the island at the desired elevation. Orange was launched at 2330 hours from Johnston Island on 12 August. It was detonated at an altitude of 141,000 feet, approximately 26 miles south of the island. Capitulation of the findings in line with a general objective sought from teak, orange and yucca shows first that high-altitude nuclear detonations are characterized by the rapid development of energy phenomena. Spectacular was the extent of the fireball growth on teak, the highest of the three shots, a diameter of 10 miles in 10 milliseconds, accompanied by a striking visual aurora. Ethan Allen submerged to firing depth, and there it goes, Polaris on the way with a nuclear warhead. Right on the second, the missile detonated at the intended altitude at the target point. Service as rock missiles with nuclear warheads were taken aboard the designated firing ship, the destroyer Agarholm, and her backup, the destroyer Richard B. Anderson, and were stowed in their launchers by the ship's regular as rock crews. Intensive preparations stressed the most advanced safety and protective measures. All was in place and ready. A board Agarholm, the as rock launcher lined up on target. The rocket-propelled as rock headed toward target. In the foreground is the firing ship. 27 seconds later, the warhead splashed and penetrated to its depth. At this point, the service fuse completed the firing cycle and the burst exploded skyward. As the burst fell back, the base surge formed, a heavily radioactive cloud of spray and mist which spread to nearly one mile in radius. A few seconds later, the detonation bubble collapsed. This caused a new plume to be thrust upward through the primary cloud, and this impressive view of the shock wave spreading across the water was seen by the crew of another helicopter. Beneath the sea, the crew of Razorback experienced the effects of the shock wave in a strong shaking that lasted for 45 seconds. The prime missions of tactical aircraft is the delivery of nuclear weapons following a low-level approach to the target. The methods selected for delivery and escape will determine the success of the mission, as well as the safety of the pilot and the aircraft. This is an actual retarded lay-down delivery using a practice weapon. The landing through the gun side is accomplished with the sight depressed. When the piper crosses the target, the weapon is pickled manually. Lay-down is a very accurate method of delivery. Just before the weapon is to detonate, the airplane is pulled into a 15-degree climb with the tail toward the blast. With the thermal shield closed, this attitude provides maximum protection from weapon effects. The weapons are being loaded aboard the aircraft. In this case, both weapons are B-43s. Preparation for delivery of the second weapon, the pilot adjusts the AMAC for an airburst and checks his remaining weapon. He also selects loft on the CP-741. Because this is to be a loft delivery, when the IP is crossed, the bomb release button is depressed and held. This starts the computer. The operation of the 1962 Dominic test series conducted by Joint Task Force 8 included two types of tests. One involved a number of high-altitude nuclear detonations carried aloft by various missiles launched from the island and the other was a group of five airdrops over the ocean clear of the island but within the Johnston Island danger area. The first of the Johnston Island high-altitude firings was Bluegill. Ignition of the propulsion system appeared normal. The rain safety tracking radar lost track and it was necessary to destroy both missile and the warhead after a long flight when what was later analyzed to have been the correct trajectory. Next attempt of the high-altitude shot was Starfish on the 19th of June. It, too, was unsuccessful. 8th of July, Starfish Prime, the second try at Starfish, was launched and was entirely successful. The warhead detonated at an altitude of 400 kilometers, 31 kilometers south of Johnston Island. On 25 July, the four vehicle for Bluegill Prime had a one-of-a-kind casualty. It was diagnosed as a sticking fuel valve which caused a fire at motor ignition. Both missile and warhead burned on the launching pad. The pad was extensive as could be plainly seen next morning. Less visible but more dangerous was the long-life radioactive contamination of the pad area from the warhead. Four events, Checkmate, Bluegill Triple Prime, Kingfish and Tide Rope were all successful. In flight, the pilot will select an arm position. At release, a pulse of current is transferred from the aircraft to ignite the pulse thermal batteries. The parachute is deployed. With over 6,500 aging classified nuclear weapons development films located on Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico and a smaller number at Albuquerque's Pantex plant near Amarillo, this joint Department of Defense and Department of Energy effort will preserve and allow appropriate release of this valuable historic information.