New Mexico Search
Home PageReal Estate
Education
Lodging
Transportation
Restaurants
Employment
Medical
Moving Here
Resident Services
Home Improvement
Entertainment
Galleries
Research Corridor
Media
Financial Info
Native Americans
Hispanic Sites
Cowboy Stuff
History
Non-profit Orgs
Feature Article
Web Site Design
Advertise Here
Be Hosted Here BNG Enterprises owns newmexicoliving.com
PO Box 2368
Edgewood NM 87015
505-269-0864, 776-3270
bng@newmexicoliving.com Email site comments
Visitor info private!
Weather |
NY Times |
NM News |
Legislators |
Ski |
Events |
Tourism |
Maps |
Contact Us
|
White Sands
Otero County (S Central) map of counties
Tularosa, Holloman AFB
A Complete Index of Alamogordo Information | The Alamogordo NewsThe Museum of Space History | White Sands National Monument
|
On the Eastern edge of the Tularosa Basin, a downfaulted system which creates gorgeous thunderheads in the summer, lies Alamogordo. It means "Fat Cottonwood". Nearby is Tularosa which is a quaint, old style New Mexican town with lots of adobe houses and trees. Alamo (as residents call it) sprang into vibrating life with the advent of Holloman Air Force Base (HAFB) which now houses Stealth Bombers. Back in the 50's HAFB sent monkeys into space and monitored their reactions -- now HAFB, among other things, keeps the surviving monkeys housed, fed, and medically sound as the result of an animal rights ruling.
When the monkeys flew, computers that filled entire rooms and operated off wires instead of transistors or microchips did the data reduction for the flights. HAFB also housed the work of many German scientists who were brought out of Germany before the 2nd World War ended and were ultimately made US citizens by an act of Congress in order to help the USA begin a rocket program. The Alamogordo schools taught the scientists' children back in those days but there now exists a German private school in town. In conjunction with White Sands Missile Range, HAFB helped develop rockets and the whole concept of manned space flight.
Alamogordo lies at the base of the Sacramento Mountains in which are the tourist town of Cloudcroft and tiny Sunspot, a sun observatory. Near to Alamogordo were ranchers who were forced to sell their land to the government when it developed White Sands Missile Range which covers the entire basin. HAFB is 13 miles to the West of Alamogordo and further West is, first, White Sands National Monument, and then White Sands Air Force Base in a cleft of the Organ Mountains (part of the San Andres chain) on the West side of the Tularosa Basin. The nearest large city is El Paso, Texas, and the road between it and Alamogordo has been the location of many UFO sightings and unusual electrical-magnetic occurences. |
These web site links are listed as a convenience to our visitors. If you use these links, we take no responsibility and give no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of these third-party sites.