Numerous aboveground Air Force command posts, often well signed and designated by combinations of letters and numbers, can also be seen in northeastern and north central North Dakota. All the single-warhead Minuteman II installations have been decommissioned, but Minuteman III missile fields, capable of delivering three warheads to widely scattered targets, are still operating in North Dakota, based out of Minot Air Force Base. An aboveground concrete blast door remains in place. With the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), the missile at this site was removed and the silo filled in. An interesting display of artistic creations by missile control crews remains in place as part of the interpretation that is occasionally given by former missileers. The underground launch facility (November-33) consists of steel-reinforced, shielded launch control stations for ten missiles. Two-person security teams, a flight security controller, a facility manager, and a chef rounded out the essential crew at each site on a rotational basis.

Each LCC housed a two-person crew of missileers, working twenty-four-hour shifts, monitoring the missiles and awaiting orders 24/7/365. Blast door, Minuteman Missile National Historical Site, South Dakota.

The MAF consists of an aboveground Launch Control Support Building that housed an eight-person security and maintenance team and provided access to underground launch control centers (LCCs). Find the perfect blast door stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. Launch Control Center Blast Door - Starting With A Rebar Frame. This is the best-preserved and well-interpreted missile site accessible to visitors. For thirty years, Cold War defense strategy kept crews in place for solid-fuel Minuteman missile installations based in Montana, Missouri, Wyoming, and the Dakotas to counter a similar program by the former Soviet Union. The historic site covers two locations, the Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility (MAF) and the November-33 Launch Facility. You can learn more about the history of the Cold War on the Minuteman National Historic Site website, along with information about tours, hours of operation and more.The Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site preserves and interprets the Cold War strategy of nuclear deterrence, and the lives of people who staffed isolated sites like this one. If you want to avoid the crowds and easily book the coveted Delta-01 tour, consider visiting during the late fall, winter, or early spring months. Wondering the best time of year to explore this historic site? Like many things in the area, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site sees the bulk of its visitation during the summer and early fall months.

A little fact to remember as you stare down into the silo: The Minuteman II’s warhead was sixty-six times more powerful than the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima, Japan and killed 140,000 during World War II. The Delta-09 missile was used as a training missile, so it doesn’t have any propellant or a nuclear warhead. The blast door of the silo has been partially opened and a glass ceiling placed on top which gives you the eerie view of the pastel green Minuteman II missile below. Minuteman Missile National Historic Site down an 80-foot-deep silo at a 57-foot-tall nuclear missile is, for lack of a better word, crazy.

Minuteman missile silo blast door