Titan Missle Base Museum

Today unfolded in a good way. We started the day off planning to buy some special tequila in South Tucson by the airport. We then thought of other things to do in that part of town and remembered that the Titan Missle Museum was a little bit to the south of town. We decided to go for it! It's just off I-17 in Sahuarita. This is a historical museum dedicated to preserving the technology of the Cold War era. The Titan II missle bases with nuclear warheads were built in 1963 as retalitory strike weapons to be used only if we were attacked first. In other words, it was to insure mutual distruction. Until 1987,when the last Titan II was deactivated, 54 Titan II missile complexes across the United States stood “on alert” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The construction was phenomenal. The Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) was the first liquid propellant missile that could be launched from underground. Equipped with a nine-megaton thermonuclear warhead, the
Titan II was capable of reaching its target—more than half a world away—in less than thirty minutes. The missle itself was 103 feet tall and the silo walls were 8 feet thick. I'm glad that they kept this one, minus the warhead of course, because the museum is an impressive reminder of the way things were. Here are some photos.