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The Four Corners is the survey point at the intersection of the four U.S. states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona and the high desert plateau region surrounding that point in the southwestern United States. This is the only point in the United States where four states touch. Three of the four state corners are on the Navajo Indian Reservation. The fourth corner, Colorado, is on the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation.
The Four Corners Monument located there has a per person admission fee. Four Corners Monument is located at the coordinates according to the U.S. National Geodetic Survey. US Highway 160 runs nearby while New Mexico State Road 597 serves as access road to the monument.
Because the Four Corners is part of a high Colorado Plateau, it is often a center for weather systems, which stabilize on the plateau, then proceed eastward toward the central and mountain states. This weather system creates snow and rainfall on the central part of the USA.
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White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), formerly known as the White Sands Proving Grounds, is a rocket range in New Mexico operated by the United States Army. The range which covers an area of almost 3,200 mi² (8 287 km²), gets its name from the white sands that are spread over many miles in the area. It is located in Doña Ana and Otero counties mostly within the Tularosa Basin (a valley between the Organ Mountains, San Andres Mountains and the Sacramento Mountains) but it also includes the northern reaches of the Jornada del Muerto.
Established on 9 July 1945, the range was the site of the world's first atomic weapon test on July 16, 1945 at what is now called Trinity site. V-2 rockets captured in Germany at the end of World War II were taken to WSMR for reverse engineering by the Hermes project, and as part of Operation Paperclip.
In 1963 NASA established the White Sands Test Facility on the range. For the next three years NASA launched Little Joe II boosters from Launch Complex 36 at White Sands to conduct launch escape system tests for the Apollo program. More recently, the NASA Space Shuttle program has used a landing area there known as White Sands Space Harbor located about 45 miles north of WSMR headquarters.