TITAN Missle Museum Tucson AZ

Tuesday March 10th, 2015

Today's tour of the Titan Missile Museum was a serendipity.  We had been told by others to go visit, but visiting "war museums" is not a joyous experience, so not my favorite thing to do.  Our tour guide was very solemn and professional as he walked us thru the facility and explained what we were seeing.

Nothing fancy here.  Inside we had to wait our turn for the tour.  When it was time for us to begin, we started with a short film on the history of the Titan missile program.
This was one of eighteen in the Tucson area alone.
If you are 5' 10" or taller, put on a hard hat so you don't put a crease in your head, and step outside to enter the stairway to the control room.

And there it is, or at least, there is the top of the silo that houses the museum missile.

As we entered the control room area, the huge blast proof door and it's locks and hinges were impressive.  The door would seal airtight.

For what it may be worth, the computer in your smart phone is more powerful than those that were used here.

One of the control panels.  The staff encouraged us to touch and take pictures.  The staff also went thru a simulated firing.  We were told that had the missile fired, we would not have heard or felt it because of spring suspension of the complex.

We could see these huge springs and shock absorbers thru-out the complex.

Finally, we went to view the missile in the silo.  The missile is so tall, that you could not take it all in, just too close.

There is a clear window over the top of the missile.  We will try a top down photo when we get up there.  The lettering says U.S. AIR FORCE.

Looking down from the observation window.  The depth is misleading.

There were more displays above ground and we were free to roam and ask questions.  What we took away from this visit, was not a memorial to war, but rather a significant deterrent to war.  Intended to be in place for 10 years, served for 20.
If you want to read more about this museum, visit  http://www.titanmissilemuseum.org/.