Missiles among us

Did you know that most of the intercontinental ballistic missiles and their silos were in South Dakota?  Just across the highway from the east entrance to the Badlands was the Museum for the Minuteman Missiles.  The small museum has a quick historical overview of the cold war and the nuclear missile buildup between the USA and the USSR.

You could also visit an actual missile silo and tour a decommissioned control center which are located a few miles away.  Unfortunately, the control center tours are limited to 6 people at a time and require reservations which fill up the day they can be made 90 days in advance.  We still were able to visit a missile silo and a listen to a park ranger explain the different parts of the silo and how the missiles were loaded and launched.  We could see a decommissioned missile still in the silo and he had a sample of the blast shielded wire which was used to connect the missile systems to the control centers.