All week long a cold wind hurled grey clouds out of the Northwest and across the bleak Atomic Proving Grounds in Nevada. The Atomic Energy Commission, well aware of public concern about radioactive fallout (TIME, Feb. 28), kept on postponing the big blast. But at 5:45 one morning, it touched off a small one.
Newsmen huddled on cold (10°), windy (40 m.p.h.) Mt. Charleston, nearly 50 miles away, muttered with frustration. The blast was a disappointment: the sky lit up with a dull red glow for a second; the mushroom cloud was hidden...
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