National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

Chartered By The United States Congress As The National Museum Of Nuclear Science And History And A Smithsonian Affiliate; Nine Acres Of Indoor Galleries And An Outdoor Heritage Park Of Aircraft, Rockets And A Submarine Sail · Albuquerque, New Mexico

Congress chartered this as the national museum of its subject, and it is a Smithsonian Affiliate, which is the sort of credential that makes a place sound like a Tier 1 institution. It is not - it is a good, large, unusually frank city museum on the southeast edge of Albuquerque next to Kirtland Air Force Base. What it has is range: the galleries run from Becquerel and Marie Curie through the Manhattan Project and the Cold War arms race into reactors, nuclear medicine, waste and fusion research, and they do not flinch at the consequences, with a substantial section on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Outside, Heritage Park holds a B-52, a B-29, an F-105, missiles, a rocket collection and the sail of a nuclear submarine sitting in the desert. The Manhattan Project material is the natural pairing with Los Alamos two hours north, and it is a better first stop than most visitors realise, because it sets up what Los Alamos then shows you.

601 Eubank Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87123, United States

Open daily through the middle of the day and afternoon, closing on a small number of major holidays. The outdoor Heritage Park is part of the same ticket and closes at the same time; it is exposed and best walked early in summer or in the middle of the day in winter. Special exhibitions, lectures and film screenings run on announced dates. Weekends and school holidays are the busiest, and the site is large enough that it rarely feels crowded.

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