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Captain Slow
While in AZ I had the chance to tour the Titan II missile museum. For those of you who don't know, this is a Titan II missile:
The museum is actually an old missile silo...the only one surviving the Cold War. The other sites were destroyed as a part of the agreement with the USSR, but this one was kept intact for this purpose. The missile at the site has no real warhead and has never been fueled up. Still, the missile that was there for 20 years was VERY real. Very amazing to be in the room where the end of the world could have started.
This is the rocket engine used:
and a closeup of the thrusters:
Inside the main building/gift shop is a life-sized replica of the warhead:
This is looking down into the actual silo...the glare was bad that day, even with my polarizing filter. You get the idea, though.
Closeup of the warhead
Going down underground:
One of a few giant doors guarding the control room area:
Guidance and missile control/warning panels:
Commander's control panel:
One of 2 launch keys. The other key is outside of arms reach from this key, so two people were necessary to launch the missile (one person can't reach both). They were spring loaded to the "off" position, and had to be turned within 2 seconds of each other and held for 5 seconds. If not, a pin in the rocket engine would be electronically welded shut making the missile inoperable. It then took 20+ hours to replace that pin. After the keys were turned for 5 seconds, no other input was needed. A half hour later the target wasn't on the Earth anymore.
The long hallway connecting the control room and the silo
Everyone worked on the 2 person system. Anywhere you went there was another person watching you. The only place you could go by yourself was the crew quarters above the control room. These mannequins show two crewmen checking for a possible fuel leak on the missile (hence the protective suits). The oxidizer used in the missile would turn to nitric acid in your lungs and the rocket fuel would destroy your liver. One did the work while the other read the checklist.
The missile from inside the silo
Very sobering to be in that place...
The museum is actually an old missile silo...the only one surviving the Cold War. The other sites were destroyed as a part of the agreement with the USSR, but this one was kept intact for this purpose. The missile at the site has no real warhead and has never been fueled up. Still, the missile that was there for 20 years was VERY real. Very amazing to be in the room where the end of the world could have started.
This is the rocket engine used:
and a closeup of the thrusters:
Inside the main building/gift shop is a life-sized replica of the warhead:
This is looking down into the actual silo...the glare was bad that day, even with my polarizing filter. You get the idea, though.
Closeup of the warhead
Going down underground:
One of a few giant doors guarding the control room area:
Guidance and missile control/warning panels:
Commander's control panel:
One of 2 launch keys. The other key is outside of arms reach from this key, so two people were necessary to launch the missile (one person can't reach both). They were spring loaded to the "off" position, and had to be turned within 2 seconds of each other and held for 5 seconds. If not, a pin in the rocket engine would be electronically welded shut making the missile inoperable. It then took 20+ hours to replace that pin. After the keys were turned for 5 seconds, no other input was needed. A half hour later the target wasn't on the Earth anymore.
The long hallway connecting the control room and the silo
Everyone worked on the 2 person system. Anywhere you went there was another person watching you. The only place you could go by yourself was the crew quarters above the control room. These mannequins show two crewmen checking for a possible fuel leak on the missile (hence the protective suits). The oxidizer used in the missile would turn to nitric acid in your lungs and the rocket fuel would destroy your liver. One did the work while the other read the checklist.
The missile from inside the silo
Very sobering to be in that place...
