From 1951 to 1962, above-ground nuclear tests lit up the Nevada desert - and Las Vegas marketed them like any other attraction. The Chamber of Commerce printed calendars of scheduled detonations. Casinos organized viewing parties; the Atomic View Motel advertised front-row seats. The flashes were visible downtown; the mushroom clouds rose above the mountains like deadly sunrises. Tourists came specifically to witness tests. Some observers claimed they felt heat from explosions 65 miles away. The atomic carnival ended when the Limited Test Ban Treaty pushed testing underground in 1963, but the city's nuclear relationship continued - test site workers lived in Vegas, spent in Vegas, shaped the economy for decades.

The National Atomic Testing Museum opened in 2005, a Smithsonian affiliate presenting the Nevada Test Site's history without flinching. Exhibits include actual test equipment, an Area 51 display, and a Ground Zero Theater that simulates a nuclear detonation - complete with wind blast and rumbling seats. The museum doesn't glorify testing, but it doesn't moralize either. It presents facts: 928 tests, multiple weapons designs, the Cold War context that made this destruction seem necessary. Photographs show test site workers in shirt sleeves, mushroom clouds reflected in car windshields, the matter-of-fact bureaucracy of building doomsday weapons.

Someone had to build and test these weapons, and many of them lived in Las Vegas. Test site employment reached 10,000 during peak years; workers commuted 65 miles each way to blow things up, then came home to the Strip. Their spending powered the local economy. Their cancers came later - occupational exposure regulations were inadequate, radiation monitoring incomplete, and the full toll is still being counted. The museum honors these workers: the scientists, technicians, and laborers who did what their country asked, often at personal cost. The casinos didn't tell this story. The museum does.

Nuclear testing shaped Las Vegas in ways beyond tourism and employment. The test site restricted development northwest of the city, preserving desert that might otherwise have been developed. Test site technology spun off into Nevada's growing tech sector. The culture of secrecy and security clearances created a workforce experienced in classified work. And the testing left marks: fallout drifted over communities downwind, causing elevated cancer rates that took decades to acknowledge. The museum addresses this legacy - the Downwinders exhibit doesn't hide the human cost. Las Vegas profited from the bomb, but not everyone shared equally in that profit.

The National Atomic Testing Museum is located on Flamingo Road near the Strip, a ten-minute drive from most casinos. It's open daily; admission is charged. Allow 2-3 hours for exhibits. The Ground Zero Theater experience runs regularly; it's intense and not for everyone. The Area 51 exhibit addresses conspiracy theories with actual history - mostly declassified aircraft testing. The gift shop sells atomic kitsch that would have been normal in 1955. The museum is a Smithsonian affiliate with serious scholarship behind the displays. Las Vegas offers everything else you'd expect. The museum offers perspective: what happened 65 miles away while Elvis performed and dice rolled.