Saturday, October 04, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ATOMIC TESTING MUSEUM: Nevada Test Site artifacts get home

Opening of Atomic Testing Museum's exhibits includes Cold War discussion

Gary Powers and Loretta Helling discuss placement of photographs about Francis Gary Powers and the U-2 spy plane program at the Atomic Testing Museum. Powers is the son of Francis Gary Powers, who was held prisoner for 21 months after his U-2 was shot down over Russia in 1960. Photo by Amy Beth Bennett. Al O'Donnell, right, hugs his son, Bill, after it was revealed during the opening of the Desert Research Institute's Frank H. Rogers Science and Technology Building that Bill O'Donnell made a donation in the name of his father. As a result, the museum will house "The Innovators" gallery, named for Al O'Donnell. Photo by Amy Beth Bennett.

Five years ago, Troy Wade dreamed of a place to keep Cold War artifacts from the Nevada Test Site before they disappeared.

Today, that dream comes true with the 9 a.m. public opening of the first temporary exhibits at the Atomic Testing Museum.

"I am absolutely amazed and gratified that we've been able to do this," Wade said as final preparations were made for Friday's christening of the $13 million Frank H. Rogers Science and Technology Building at the Desert Research Institute.

The test site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was the proving ground for the nation's nuclear weapons. From 1951 until 1992, when full-scale tests were put on hold, scientists conducted 100 atomic blasts in the atmosphere and detonated 828 nuclear bombs below ground.

A longtime Las Vegan and former Energy Department defense chief, Wade compared the building's opening to development of the first nuclear bomb during the years of the Manhattan Engineering District.

"Certainly, this new building, with all of its occupants, has happened because of the same blend of science, government, academia and business," said Wade, president of the non-profit Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation.

He noted the building's construction was financed through a combination of state money, federally guaranteed revenue bonds and a bank loan to the Desert Research Institute, a research arm of the University and Community College System of Nevada.

The building is at 755 E. Flamingo Road, at the Desert Research Institute, on the north end of the UNLV campus. The museum is on the ground floor. The second floor will house the Rogers Center for Environmental Remediation and Monitoring, the Center for Arid Lands Environmental Management, and the National Nuclear Security Administration's nuclear testing archive, a collection of historic records about test site workers.

The building includes the NNSA's Cultural Resources Program, managed by the Desert Research Institute, and a collection of 500,000 artifacts from the test site.

The museum, affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, will open next fall with permanent exhibits worth $4 million. Temporary exhibits will be open daily beginning today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for holidays, Museum Director Art Wolf said.

Today at 1 p.m., the museum will host a Cold War conversation between Gary Powers Jr., the son of U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers, and Sergei Khrushchev, son of former Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev.

"This is kind of a test for us to see the appetite of the Las Vegas public," Wolf said about today's events.

In an interview this week, Gary Powers Jr. said he has teamed with Sergei Khrushchev for lectures in the past.

"He tells his version of things about what his father told him. I tell my version of things about what my father told me," Powers said.

Powers' father was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 while on a covert CIA mission. He managed to bail out of the disabled U-2 and survived a daring free fall and 15,000-foot parachute descent.

"If he hadn't lived through that, I wouldn't be here," Powers said.

His father's capture turned into an international incident that led to the elder Powers' release in 1962 in exchange for Soviet citizen Rudolph Abel, who had been caught in the United States and convicted of espionage.

Years later, Francis Gary Powers was honored with the CIA's highest award for valor, the Intelligence Star, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He died in a helicopter crash in 1977 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

At 3 p.m. today, producer Jim Thebaut will present the Nevada premiere of his documentary, "The Cold War and Beyond." The documentary focuses on the nuclear arms race from 1945 to 1991.

The Cold War "sampler" in the museum's gallery features:

• A traveling display of memorabilia about Francis Gary Powers and the U-2 spy plane program.

• A propeller from the transport plane that crashed on Mount Charleston in 1955, killing 14 people. The plane was transporting U-2 designers and others to the secret Area 51 installation north of Las Vegas, where the spy plane was tested.

• Recently unearthed equipment and recording instruments from the 1957 Fizeau nuclear bomb test in Nevada.