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- Albuquerque, New Mexico - Atomic Name Instantly Vaporized
National Museum of Nuclear Science and History: It's official: the National Atomic Museum has moved and changed its name to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. [04/08/2009] Complete Story...
- Address:
- 601 Eubank Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM
- Directions:
- Southeast edge of the city. I-40 exit 165, then south about a mile on Southern Blvd SE. On the southwest corner of Eubank Blvd SE and Southern Blvd SE.
- Hours:
- Opens daily at 9. Gated after 5 pm. (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
- Phone:
- 505-245-2137
- Admission:
- Adults $15.
- RA Rates:
- Major Fun
Atomic Museum to Slough Off Radioactive Image
When the Sandia Atomic Museum opened at Kirtland Air Force Base in 1969, it displayed the most not-secret nuclear weaponry that the Cold War would allow, including an atomic torpedo. Its gift shop once sold civil defense manuals and atom bomb earrings.
The Museum was closed after 9/11 -- a victim of War on Terror security -- and in 2002 it moved to the Museum Row section of Albuquerque, and changed its name to the National Atomic Museum. That worked well -- until the Museum brought in a nuclear payload-ready Redstone rocket and stood it by the front door. Some citizens felt that downtown Albuquerque was no place for a 68-foot-tall atomic hell-candle.
Now the museum is moving again, to a 12-acre parcel of land back outside of the Air Force Base. It's changing its name again as well, to The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. The renaming "wasn't done for political correctness," we were told by director Jim Walther. "It was done to better describe the new museum's attempt to meet its whole mission."
Jim feels that the old Atomic Museum "didn't meet its mission very well because it was mostly about nuclear weapons." That, of course, is why we LIKED the old Museum, but Jim promised that the bombs and the rockets won't be going away -- they'll just be joined by exhibits on nuclear medicine, nuclear power, uranium mining, and other civilian and industrial topics. The Atomic Museum is, after all, America's only official atomic museum -- by decree of Congress -- and Jim sees that as a mandate "to carefully present a very balanced point of view."
"We're the Nordstrom of nuclear science!" he added cheerily, meaning that his museum will do its best to satisfy almost everybody.
Jim pledged that the Museum's copies of the first atomic bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy, will be kept on display. So will the Redstone rocket -- and the atomic torpedo. So, too, will most of the big exhibits that were left behind when the museum was moved downtown, such as an atomic cannon and the B-52 that dropped the last American H-bomb in 1962.
There will be an "atomic cars" exhibit as well, although they're not atomic-POWERED cars. They were just used to drive Manhattan Project scientists around in the desert, and one, a Plymouth, carried the plutonium core for the first A-bomb to the Trinity site. Does that Plymouth glow in the dark? Will it be displayed inside a ring of Geiger counters?
We weren't quick enough to ask those questions of Jim, but we were relieved to hear that the old Atomic Museum, while changing into what he called "a credible institution," isn't burying all of its commie-blasting hardware like so much unwanted nuclear waste.
The museum plans to make its move in March 2009. Jim hinted that it could sure use another $2 million in donations, just to make certain that the atomic cannon and the B-52 are up in time for the ribbon-cutting.
[02/24/2008]- Albuquerque, New Mexico - National Atomic Museum - Redstone Missile
In a comment regarding the Redstone missile in Warren, New Hampshire, Roadside America said that it was not aware of any other town exhibiting a Redstone missile. While technically true, for the past few years a Redstone missile has sat outside the National Atomic Museum in downtown Albuquerque. It has garnered much opposition from the neighborhood surrounding the museum. Some residents feel that it is simply an eyesore, while others have difficulty with what they feel is a symbol of war and destruction displayed so prominently. Recently, one city council member proposed a local law requiring that museum exhibits be prohibited from being taller than the museum, which would have effectively done away with the missile, but the act failed. So the missile still stands.
[Michael Hess, 10/01/2005]
Albuquerque, New Mexico - National Atomic Museum
The National Atomic Museum is temporarily located just west of Downtown Albuquerque, in an area commonly referred to as old town. It is less than a block from both the Albuquerque Museum and the Museum of National History. You can't miss the NAM. There is a 60-ft. high Redstone missile sitting in front of it. The new permanent home for the museum is being built at Balloon Fiesta park on the northern end of Albuquerque, right off of I-25.
[William, 06/15/2004]- Albuquerque, New Mexico - National Atomic Museum - On the Move
Contains exhibits about the Manhattan Project, the two bombs dropped on Japan, and the nuclear weapons programs of the US Government. The old museum had a number of aircraft and missiles, but the new location hasn't the room to display them right now. Many people find the museum macabre or distasteful, but it's part of our history.
[Pat O'Connell, 06/18/2003]
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July 2004 - Tipster Bill Metz sent these two nice views of a Native American shepherd statue at an adjacent museum site, seeming to admire that Redstone missile....