![]() These two sub-surface wings are connected by a Tunnel Junction and accessed by an elevator. The facility consists of a one-story surface structure, assembled as a Launch Control Support Building (LCSB), and two sub-surface, re-enforced concrete encapsulated steel pods- a Launch Control Center (LCC) and Launch Control Equipment Building (LCEB). The Soviet Union eventually collapsed, but not before the world had come close to destruction on several occasions.The Oscar-01 Missile Alert Facility (MAF) was constructed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri in 1963, and determined to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) by Missouri SHPO in 1998. The Cold War was fought through economics, politics, culture and indirect military confrontation. The democratic capitalist system of the United States and its allies vied with the communist totalitarian system of the Soviet Union and its allies. This same harsh fact was true for nations all around the world. In the background to all this, were the American people who enjoyed unsurpassed freedoms and prosperity yet also knew that their way of life could be destroyed in a matter of hours by nuclear war. Meanwhile, local landowners and members of small towns in the central and northern Great Plains lived literally side by side with nuclear weapons. Despite the searing summer heat and brutal winter cold of South Dakota, operational status of the missiles was maintained at all times. The missile field was operational, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 365 days a year, for thirty years. At the same time, maintenance and security police ensured that the sites were totally secure and always functioning.ġ980s morale art on the tunnel junction wall and blast door at Delta-01. These crews were ready to respond at a moment's notice. One of the most serious responsibilities during the Cold War was to be part of a missile crew with the ability to initiate the use of nuclear weapons from a Launch Control Center. This threat of destruction acted as a deterrent to enemies while paradoxically preserving an uneasy peace. It was these nuclear weapons that constantly threatened devastation of any aggressor nation that might consider launching a nuclear attack against the United States or its allies. These two sites, along with the Minuteman Missile Visitor Center, comprise Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.ĭuring the Cold War thousands of Air Force personnel in Minuteman Missile fields throughout the Great Plains worked and lived around nuclear weapons that held unprecedented destructive power. The park preserves two of these facilities in their historic state- Launch Control Facility Delta-01 with its corresponding underground Launch Control Center and Launch Facility (Missile Silo) Delta-09. There were 15 Launch Control Facilities that commanded and controlled 150 Launch Facilities (Missile Silos) holding Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Minuteman Missile National Historic Site protects two facilities that were once part of a Minuteman Missile field that covered the far western portion of South Dakota from 1963 through the early 1990s. ![]() ![]() Delta-09 is one of two places in America where the public can view a Cold War era missile silo.
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