It consists of an above-ground building containing a kitchen, sleeping quarters, offices and life-support equipment. It occupies approximately six acres (24,000 m 2) about 1.7 miles (2.7 km) north of I-90 at Exit 127. The launch control facility, known as Delta One (D-01), is about 10.5 miles (16.9 km) away, to the east-southeast in northwestern Jackson County. Visitors can conduct self-guided tours of the site during the day by calling a number on their cell phones and walking around the site, listening to the description of various points over the phone. Because the only way to get to the underground part of the site is by a ladder 30 feet (9.1 m) long, tours are not conducted underground for safety reasons. Not only does this permit visitors to see the missile, it enables Russian satellites to verify that the site is not operational, and hence in compliance with the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The launch tube was then covered with a glass viewing enclosure. The launch tube's 90-ton cover has been rolled partly away and welded to the rails it rides on. It consists of an underground launch tube ("missile silo") 12 feet (3.7 m) in diameter and 80 feet (24.4 m) deep, made of reinforced concrete with a steel-plate liner. It occupies 1.6 acres (6,000 m 2) nearly one-half mile (800 m) southwest of Interstate 90 at Exit 116 and six miles (9.7 km) from the town of Wall, South Dakota, in eastern Pennington County.
The silo, known as launch facility Delta Nine (D-09) was constructed in 1963. The facilities represent the only remaining intact components of a nuclear missile field that once consisted of 150 Minuteman II missiles, 15 launch-control centers, and covered over 13,500 square miles (35,000 km 2) of southwestern South Dakota. This National Historic Site consists of three facilities: a visitor center and two significant Cold War-era sites, a launch control center and a missile silo/launch facility, formerly operated by the 66th Strategic Missile Squadron of the 44th Strategic Missile Wing, headquartered at Ellsworth Air Force Base in Box Elder, near Rapid City. Some 450 of the newer Minuteman III missiles are still on active duty at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, Minot AFB, North Dakota, and F. Guided tours are available of the underground Launch Control Center, and a missile silo can be observed from above. The site preserves the last intact Minuteman II ICBM system in the United States, in a disarmed and demilitarized status. The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is an American national historic site established in 1999 near Wall, South Dakota to illustrate the history and significance of the Cold War, the arms race, and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) development. JSTOR ( April 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "Minuteman Missile National Historic Site" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
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