TITAN MISSILE MUSEUM

The 'Titan Missile Museum' is run by the Arizona Aerospace Foundation and is located in Green Valley in the U.S. state of Arizona (). It is located roughly 20 km south of Tucson and features a Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile still in its silo. It is kept without an active warhead and without any fuel. The missile currently in the silo was actually never an active missile. It had been used at another facility for the training of all Titan Missile crews. To demonstrate to satellite surveillance that the silo is inactive, large concrete blocks have been placed to prevent the silo doors from opening more than half way. However, the support facilities at the site remain intact, complete with their original equipment.
The silo became operational in 1963 and was deactivated in 1982 as part of President Reagan's policy (announced in 1981) of decommissioning the Titan II rockets. All Titan II silos were destroyed except for this one. It is now a National Historic Landmark.
In addition to being a National Historical Landmark, several sequences in the 1996 film were filmed at the Titan Missile Museum. The missile itself was depicted to be the launch vehicle for Humanity's first warp ship, the Phoenix.

Contents

Available to See

Yield and Warhead

External links

Available to See

At the visitor center there is a small museum putting the Titan within the context of the Cold War. The basic tour includes a guided discussion above the facility, in the control room and a view into the actual missile silo. Above ground, you can see the hardstands for fuel storage containers and associated control vehicles. In addition, there are restored engines (all three stages) from a Titan II missile, a re-entry capsule and the dramatic view from the top of the missile silo. The silo lid is in a half-open position with the remainder covered in plexi-glass to allow viewing into the silo.


The below ground tour varies based on what is offered. The standard tour includes a visit to the control room (through the controlled access process). In the control room, you can experience a simulated launch which is a demonstration of the sequence of steps that would have been taken to launch the missile. From there it is a straight walk down the corridor to the actual missile silo.
The underground corridors are somewhat narrow and hardhats are required for anyone who is 5'10" tall or taller. These are provided at the start of the tour when visitors watch a video on the history of the Titan II.
To get to the control room visitors normally need to walk up and down 55 steps, but on request an elevator is available. Special behind the scenes tours are also available which allow the public to visit more areas of the underground missile site. On longer tours, you can see the various levels of the missile silo, antennae silos and other features of the site. While the basic tour can take 1 1/2 hours, the more extended tours can take 6-7 hours so be prepared. These tours are offered by reservation only and may be made through the museum's web site.

Yield and Warhead

The Titan II Missile was the largest land based nuclear missile on active duty for the United States. The missile contained one W53 warhead with a yield of 9 Megatons (9,000 kilotons).
The facility's highest state of alert was November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was shot. When news of the shooting broke, the keys used to launch the missile were ordered to be placed on the tables at the central consoles to prepare for a possible launch order. The Pentagon did not yet know whether the Soviet Union had committed an act of war. The keys were not, however, placed in the keyholes.
At time of launch, orders from central command would have specified one of three pre-programmed targets at the bases, which for security purposes were unknown to the crew. The missile base that is now the Titan Missile Museum (known as Base 571-7 of the 390th Airborne) was at the time of closure programmed to strike "Target Two". The target could not be changed by the facility's crew. This target, which is classified to this day but is assumed to be within the borders of the former Soviet Union, was designated for an impact detonation, suggesting its target was a hardened facility (such as a Soviet missile base or similar). The two other targets were both designated to air detonation, suggesting their targets were larger targets, perhaps cities.

External links

★ Titan Missile Museum

★ Pima Air & Space Museum

★ Aerial photo of site of Titan Missile Museum

★ Color aerial photo of Titan Missile Museum