A few miles north of Badlands National Park is the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. It consists of three locations, all within a radius of about ten miles. There's the Visitors Center, the actual missile silo, and then the launch and control complex. We chose to tour the latter. All tours require an advance reservation. All locations are managed by the National Park Service. You park across the highway and walk up to a secure gate, waiting for your guide (a NPS Ranger) to appear and let you in. There are lots of security rules that must be followed -- it's all very dramatic. Before taking us several stories below ground, our guide explains the history of the Cold War Minuteman defense program. Visitors are shown the sleeping, kitchen, and living quarters. Then we take an elevator below ground to examine the actual launch complex, a small room with concrete walls more than four feet thick. During the Cold War two men manned the launch control equipment. They would spend years doing nothing, so many of them took college courses and studied while they worked. First photo: the walls were built with a special type of rebar three inches in diameter. More information can be had at the NPS web site: https://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm
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