Training of a chimpanzee during NASA Project Mercury preparations at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, United States. Animal test is conducted as chimpanzee rides a rocket sled on a track. Men walk along the side of the track. Buildings in the background. Technicians check the chimp (not seen) after the rocket sled test.
A film about testing of rocket models at White Sands in New Mexico, United States. Technicians in a room. A car pulls up outside a building with a sign on it that reads 'Supersonic wind tunnel laboratory'. Men at a drafting table as they design rocket models. A technician in a machine shop works on a model of a missile. A model of a rocket being tested in a wind tunnel for flight factors like drag. Technicians observe during a test flight in a compression room. Men work on control panels. Rocket models being tested in the wind tunnel under simulated flight conditions. Huge gauges on a wall as technicians take readings. An image of a rocket model under test on a viewer screen. The pattern of air density being observed. Photographic record of the image being taken. A rocket lifts off and in flight.
Activities the day before the Trinity nuclear test conducted at White Sands Missile Range (USAAF Almogordo bombing and gunnery range) in the Jornado del Muerto desert of New Mexico, during World War II. This is for the the first atomic bomb test; and first ever detonation of a nuclear weapon in history. View of the White Sands Missile Range,the testing site for Trinity nuclear test. Mountains seen in the background. Men aboard a truck loaded with the plutonium core nuclear device nicknamed "Gadget". Men attach the gadget to hook of a crane. Crane hoists the gadget from truck and place it on ground. Men assemble the gadget.
Activities prior to the Trinity nuclear test conducted in the Jornado del Muerto desert of New Mexico during World War II. Crane lifts a tent canvas. Man lifts a ladder and places it to climb on the steel tower. The plutonium core nuclear device nicknamed the "Gadget" seen on the ground. It is the first atomic bomb test device. This is the day before the first detonation of a nuclear weapon in history. Men prepare for final arming of the device. Man climbs up a ladder to tower. Other men stand on a tower. Drape to cover the bomb is prepared.
A film includes panoramic views of the Western United States and accounts of trade caravans moving towards Santa Fe, New Mexico from Missouri in 1821. Panoramic views of mountainous terrain, rivers, trees and rocky hills of the Western United States and the Santa Fe Trail. Exteriors of Pueblo houses in Santa Fe. Chili peppers drying on a wall. Several adobe-brick houses. Interiors of an adobe house showing furnishes, silver coins, ironware and blankets of early times. An adobe church in Santa Fe. Interiors of the church showing the oldest reredos.
Rocket being launched from White Sands in New Mexico. Technician inserts camera in fin of rocket. He inserts cover over lens and screws casing securely in place. Rocket starts to rise from platform and takes off. Mountains in the background. Rocket disappears into the sky. It leaves vapor trails. Rocket in flight over the earth. View of curvature of the earth. Craters seen on Earth's surface. Aircraft with folded wings aboard United States Navy ship Midway.