Titan Missile Museum
Museum · Sahuarita · Tucson & the Sky Islands
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Cold War ICBM silo south of Tucson, built in 1963 and deactivated in 1984. Now a National Historic Landmark, it's the only place in the US where you can see an entirely preserved Titan II missile in its original launch facility.
Descend 35 feet underground and you are standing beside the missile itself: a 103 foot Titan II, disarmed but otherwise intact, filling its silo exactly as it did when it was live. This was one of 18 Titan II sites that once ringed Tucson under the 390th Strategic Missile Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, fully on alert from December 1963 until the last Titan II here came off duty in 1984. Four person crews worked 24 hour alerts inside the complex around the clock, trained to run a launch sequence timed at 58 seconds from order to ignition. Guides, several of them former missile crew themselves, walk visitors through that same control room and down the cableways to the silo, retracing the drill they once trained for.
What you see
The 750 ton silo door sits locked at half open over the launch duct, held by six concrete blocks and sealed under a glass viewing window that lets visitors, and once Soviet satellites, look straight down at the missile below.
Practical
Open 9am to 5pm, Wednesday through Sunday from May to October and daily the rest of the year. Guided 45 minute tours run through the day, hourly off-season and every half hour in peak season, with the last tour departing at 4pm; each tour is capped at 26 visitors and online reservations are recommended.
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titanmissilemuseum.org ↗Google Maps ↗
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Common questions
- Why stop at Titan Missile Museum on a bike ride?
- Cold War ICBM silo south of Tucson, built in 1963 and deactivated in 1984. Now a National Historic Landmark, it's the only place in the US where you can see an entirely preserved Titan II missile in its original launch facility.
- Where is Titan Missile Museum?
- Titan Missile Museum is in Sahuarita, Tucson & the Sky Islands (Arizona, United States).