VIP bleachers

It was possible to see the blasts from the tests in Las Vegas. But many military and government VIPs -- not to mention reporters -- went to the Nevada Test Site to watch up close, and this became something of a spectator sport, it is said. Here, a few miles away from Frenchman Flat, one of the flat, dry pieces of desert where tests were conducted, a set of bleachers was erected from which VIPs could watch -- while either wearing the equivalent of a welding mask or looking away at the moment of detonation to avoid being blinded.