Atomic bomb test marks 70th birthday
amid renewed interest

This Monday, July 13, 2015 photo shows a visitor to the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, N.M. examines a replica of "the gadget". The gadget was the atomic bomb tested at the Trinity Test Site on July 16, 1945. Thursday marks the 70th anniversary of the Trinity Test in southern New Mexico and comes amid renewed interest in the Manhattan Project thanks to new books, video oral histories and a WGN America television drama series.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — The 70th anniversary of the U.S. government's test of the first atomic bomb over a remote stretch of New Mexico desert comes amid renewed interest in the secret World War II project, thanks to new books and a television drama series.

It also comes as residents of the historic Hispanic village of Tularosa say they were permanently affected by the Trinity Test and want the government to acknowledge it.

On July 16, 1945, scientists from the then-secret city of Los Alamos successfully exploded the first atomic bomb at the Trinity site, near Tularosa.

Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders, says the aftermath later caused rare forms of cancer for many who lived nearby.

In recent years, interest has grown around the building of the bomb with the WGN America drama "Manhattan" and new federal legislation to create the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.