AhSoon 阿順

You may have seen the devastating power of an atomic bomb on my Hiroshima post. Now you may visit one of the ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) silo in Titan Missile Museum in Sahuarita, Arizona, about 20 miles south of Tucson. You may have a chance to have a look at this monster which could have been launched in just 58 seconds, hurling a city-destroying nuclear warhead at the Soviet Union. Armageddon is not a pleasant prospect.

During the heart of the cold war, from the 1960s to the mid-80s, the 54 Titan II underground complexes like this one — with its blast doors, firing console and spartan crew quarters, all preserved as the Titan Missile Museum and operated by the nonprofit Arizona Aerospace Foundation — were part of the American program of nuclear deterrence, on constant alert to keep aggressive impulses in the Soviet Union at bay.

At the Titan Missile Museum, we learn, visitors can “stare up at a 103-foot-tall ICBM from the bottom of a hardened silo buried in the Arizona desert;” see how the crew rested (or experienced countless anxiety attacks) in spartan conditions; feel the thick, cold steel of the blast doors; and even jiggle around with the switches on the firing console.

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The Titan Missile Museum is the only publicly accessible Titan II missile site in the nation. When you visit the Titan Missile Museum, you travel through time to stand on the front line of the Cold War.
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Outside the Silo
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The entrance to the Titan Missile silo.

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Engineers fueling up the Titan II Missile

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A tuor guide explaining the lauching process in the control center

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Oh kid, please be Very Careful!!

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The N10 signifies it was the tenth missile made.

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Titan II missile, carries a nine-megaton warhead!

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The first stage engines for the Titan II missile. It produced 98,000 kg of thrust per engine.

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The second stage engine for the Titan II. It produced 45,500 kg of thrust.

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A Toilet in the museum: The urinal sign reflects a remaining operational safeguard for the only surviving Titan nuclear missle installation! But I wouldn’t call it ‘fail-safe’!

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Areal view [Aliensview]

There is a video footage from [Tucson Attractions]

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Reference

[NY Times]

[AZ Centtal]

[Ground Zero]

[Tags] Atomic, Tourism, Titan, Titan II, Missile, Museum, ICBM, Arizona, Tucson [/Tags]

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