NEVADA TEST SITE

The 23rd full scale detonation of the Summer 1957 Series code named Charleston, was fired at 6 a.m. PDT today. The experimental device was suspended from a 75-foot diameter balloon at 1500 feet above Yucca Flat.

As has been previously discussed with newsmen with regard to other tests in the series, this was highly experimental system with a wide range of yield possible. The actual yield was below nominal and not above as had been previously projected as possible. There were 17 experiments on the sequence timer.

Twenty aircraft participated in technical and other support missions, two continuing civil effects experiments were conducted. No rockets were fired to sample the cloud.

The cloud rose quickly to 32,000 feet and separated cleanly from the dust stem which began settling back to the desert floor. The upper main portion of the cloud was being blown generally to the north. It is anticipated that there will be only traces of fallout outside the test site and gunnery range.

The blast was heard as two dull thuds followed by rumblings at the control point. It was heard as bangs and rumbles at Boulder City and as rumbles at Lincoln Mine and Lund, Nevada and at St. George, Utah.

The final shot of the series, code named Morgan, is now scheduled to be ready for firing on Friday, October 4. The Morgan device will be suspended from a balloon above Yucca Flat.