Even in Arizona we knew we couldn’t dodge all the bad weather, so on a rainy Sunday (and boy was it raining!) we took the short drive south to visit the Titan Missile Museum. Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1994, it houses the last remaining Titan II missile (now deactivated) in the country.
of how fragile our world is.
From 1963 – 1987 there were 54 Titan II missile sites on alert 24 hours/day, seven days a week across the United States, a time when the threat of nuclear war between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union was very real.
in an underground silo.
Standing 103 feet tall and weighing 330,000 pounds, the Titan II had a range of up to 9,300 miles with 9 megatons of explosive power. Launching one of these would have very likely been the beginning of the end of our world.
Our 45-minute guided tour took us 35 feet down to the launch control center where we saw the original equipment and learned the safety protocols for shift changes and launch procedures.
A series of safety measures were required to gain access to the control center, including a written code that, once communicated, was then immediately burned, the ashes stashed in the original red can. The black security phone call was the last step before the airtight door to the center opened. Shifts of four, a commander, a deputy and two enlisted people, worked 24-hour shifts where they had access to a small kitchen, shower and room for a break.
At the end of our tour, and prior to climbing back above ground, we had a clear view of the missile as it stands in the silo. It was sobering to see. One of these missiles, if launched, had the capability for massive destruction. The official line is that they were kept as a deterrent, preventing Russia from attacking first. While the Titan II missiles have all been destroyed, we continue live in a fragile world.
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