Utah Test and Training Range, complex of former World War II and Cold War ranges
The Utah Test and Training Range is a large military installation in Utah's West Desert, about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. The facility covers more than 2,600 square miles of land and nearly 19,000 square miles of airspace, divided into North and South sections with Interstate 80 running between them.
The site began operations in the late 1970s, but military use of the land dates back to the 1940s. Originally established as Wendover Army Air Field in 1942, it served as a training and research facility for bombers and aircraft during World War II, with testing and weapons development continuing through subsequent decades.
This is a secure military facility that is not open to the public. Visitors can only view the landscape from Interstate 80, which passes between the North and South sections, offering glimpses of the vast desert expanse from a distance.
The range serves as a landing site for space missions and has received return capsules from several space programs, including Stardust, which brought back comet dust samples. OSIRIS-REx and Genesis missions also landed or attempted landings here, making this remote desert location crucial for space exploration and sample return operations.
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