The Titan Missile Museum is located in Green Valley, AZ, about 20 miles south of Tucson.  It is the only missile silo of it's kind left.  It is now a National Historic Park.  After 22 years of operation this program was terminated as part of Reagan's initiatives with the Soviet Union.

This is the missile system that would launch doomsday during the cold war.  This program, spread all around the country was the deterrent for nuclear war against the Soviets.  Generally, about 18 silos would be built in a dozen locations around the country.  Each one cost about $12M, plus the cost of the missile and operations support.  And this was 1960-1964 dollars. 

The engineering in these facilities is quite impressive.  Large amounts of highly toxic materials were used, not just for the warhead, but also the fuel for the rocket.  Incredible amounts of highly specialized support equipment was designed and used for this system.  Walking around the complex I recognized a lot of company names that are in business today, and not normally associated with defense work, at least in my mind.

This is a model of the Titan Missile complex.  You can see the layout and can relate to the pictures below better if you understand how the silo is constructed.

The fuel for the rocket was a specialized mix of two ingredients that combust violently on contact.  They are also highly toxic.  Very specialized fuel handling equipment was manufactured to support these rockets.  You can see the fuel tanker here.  Everything is made out of high grade stainless steel.  Everyone who was involved with this aspect of support wore HAZMAT suits designed specifically for this purpose.  You can see some dummies wearing them further down the page.

Titans are still used by NASA, so these systems are still in active service today.  The fuel is a Hypergolic combination of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, which creates serious hydrogen chloride fumes when used.  Check the Rocket Fuel page for more details. 

This is the warhead.  It's tough to gauge the size, but this is significantly larger than the Gemini capsule, and not quite as large as the Apollo.  Apollo used the same Titan rockets to get into space.  The Shuttle uses a different rocket now.

The warhead has an ablative surface since it does have to go through a reentry process just like a space capsule.

This is the edge of the door that covers the silo.  This is an incredibly massive structure that rolls on train rails since it's so heavy.  It's designed to withstand a direct nuclear hit.  The gray blocks are put in place to assure the Soviets (via satellite) that this door cannot open to release the rocket, thus disabling the facility for military purposes.

Everyone has to wear hard hats while touring the facility.  Since I'm tall I found myself stooped over for most of the walking around between chambers.  There are lots of things mounted from the ceiling with sharp corners.  It reminded me a lot of a submarine.

This is the door to enter the hardened facility.  The door is a combination of steel, concrete and lead.  It weighs three tons.  I could move it with little effort because it is so well balanced and the hinges are so perfect.

Our guide, in the white hat, is standing next to two of the four bolts that lock the door.

This is the heart of the facility.  This equipment is what was used to monitor, maintain, communicate, and if need be, launch the missile.  Most of the equipment is various types of communications and programming.  Each missile had three preprogrammed targets.  The operators did not know what the targets were.  Each target would come to the facility on a paper tape that was read into the system.  This is still done today with the missiles that are still in use.

The equipment in the second picture is mostly communications and power related.  This facility has backup batteries for 12 hours of operation.  And then there is the self contained generator that can run for 30 days before refueling is required.  There are several underground antenna arrays, and several more that pop up out of the silo when needed to communicate with the other parts of the armed forces.

The large springs are the shock absorbers that hold up this entire floor.  Everything in the facility is shock mounted.  The idea being that a nuclear hit would impose a seismic shock wave, and everything needs to continue operating afterwards.  Everything in the facility seemed able to jump about a foot in either direction due to the shock absorbers.

This is the flight capability and flight stage diagram.  It shows how far and how fast things happen with this rocket.  From the time the command is given, this rocket leaves the silo in 58 seconds.  There is no control to change the target or deactivate the rocket once it is launched. 

This is one of the tunnels that connects the control center with the missile itself.  You can see all the shock absorbers (round cylindrical units on the wall) and all the wiring and plumbing.  If you are over six feet tall, you'd be a hunchback before too long from walking around these tunnels.

The missile silo itself is an incredible piece of engineering and construction.  You cannot enter the actual silo, but you can peer into it from doors and portals.  The first picture shows a dummy in a HAZMAT suit (remember that fuel issue) doing checklists.  You can also see all the work platforms folded up against the wall of the silo. 

In the second picture you can see a couple of the maintenance platforms lowered.

The silo has systems to contain fuel spills.  It also has systems to launch the rocket, including energy absorbing materials, and a water bath to cool the rocket in the first minute of operation before it leaves the silo.

This is the empty warhead sitting atop the rocket.  You can see the silo door is half covering the silo opening, preventing it's use.