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Covering 3200 square miles of south central New Mexico, the White Sands Missile Range dwarfs and envelops the White Sands National Park and is the largest military installation in the United States. After walking the white dunes of the White Sands National Park we set up camp at the base of the Organ Mountains and it turned out we were just down the road from the museum at the White Sands Missile Range. The next day we went down to base headquarters, passed our security check and were granted access to walk to the free museum near the base entrance.

I was completely blown away by the extent of the displays that detail the history of the Range from early Native American habitation up to present day.

Originally established at the beginning of World War II as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, it was redesignated the White Sands Proving Ground in 1945 just days before the first atomic bomb was detonated on the north end of the range at the Trinity Site.

Following the end of World War II several captured German V2 rockets were brought here to be tested and the proving ground evolved into America’s testing ground for missiles.

Indoors there is an entire history of both the range and the evolution of missiles. There is a lot to see here – we ended up spending a couple hours and weren’t able to read all the displays.

Outside are several static displays of missiles of all shapes and sizes.

The White Sands Missile Range museum was a bit outside the range of our typical places to go, but it was a day well spent learning about the history of missiles.