July 14, 2012 Minuteman Missile tour near Wall, SD

What a fascinating trip into the past! This launch center was active from 1963 to 1993, and in includes "state of the art" computer equipment. Our iphones today have more capabilities than this! The actual control center was underground in a capsule made of cement and suspended on shock absorbers in the event of an earthquake... Every system had at least 2 fail-safe plans in place. The launch centers were miles away from the actual silos housing the missiles. This is the reality of what we've seen in the movies. From the outside, it appears to be an innocuous, fenced building. Apologies if some of these pictures are blurry, but they'll give you the idea. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend doing this tour.











Entrance gate; design of the installation; 3 ft. thick door to underground command center.











Photo of command center capsule construction; tour guide explaining it all; command center.











Command center views, and missile in silo (minus the warhead) about 12 miles away.