‘Titan’ Your Seatbelt

By DANIEL W. GATTO | Junior Reporter

From a distance it just looked like a boring old outdoor structure that you can easily pass by but underneath was a nuclear missile capable of wiping out the entirety of Los Angeles or a city 3,000 miles away. It was the Titan Missile Museum!

My dad, my brother, my brother’s girlfriend and I had gone to Arizona on a road trip vacation to see some family friends. We drove for multiple hours from California to Arizona and when we got there we stopped at an Air and Space Museum, The Colossal Cave and even an Ostrich farm. But my favorite stop was the Titan nuclear missile silo.

At the Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, AZ, visitors go back in time to stand on the front line of the Cold War. This preserved Titan II missile site, officially known as complex 571-7, is all that remains of the 54 Titan II missiles that were on alert across the United States from 1963 to 1987.

In the museum lobby there were military uniforms and some showcases of what a nuclear bomb would look like if it exploded. We then were led by a tour guide down into the main level. We descended 55 steps underground and immediately felt a very noticeable temperature drop. As we walked farther in we saw a very large, very thick door up ahead. The tour guide explained that in the case of an actual nuclear attack this “blast door” would be closed and it would protect the operators.

After this we walked into the control center where they would launch the missiles. I had the chance to sit down and turn the key to launch the missile. If the missile was active this order would have come from the Commander in Chief himself. The controllers would get a call from the President, double check with him that he wanted to launch the missiles, and then unlock the key and verification codes to launch the missile. I felt honored that I was the only one in our group who had the opportunity to sit in the chair like the trusted military personnel before me.

After this we continued down a long hallway called the cableway. In the next room there was a viewing area where you could see the actual Titan rocket in its grand entirety. The guide explained a bit about the Titan program which began development in 1955 as an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) which could be launched by the U.S. Air Force in about 90 seconds and held a nine megaton nuclear warhead, making it the most powerful single nuclear weapon in American history.

What was once a top secret place is now a National Historic Landmark, fulfilling a new mission educating people on the Cold War history. Overall it was a very enriching experience that I highly recommend. But I wonder, when will governments ever learn that in war, there are no winners?