Dispersed across the high plains of South Dakota were 150 silos just like the Launch Facility at Delta-09. Delta-09 connected to its Launch Control Facility at Delta-01 by underground communications cables. Most of the time Delta-09 was unmanned. Periodically, maintenance crews would perform upkeep or take care of any malfunctioning systems. At other times security police would have to secure the site if any outer or inner zone alarms sounded. Below the circular 90 ton concrete cap was a Minuteman II missile. This missile was housed in a silo which was temperature and humidity controlled. The Minuteman carried a 1.2 megaton warhead that had 120 times the explosive capacity of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. <br>
In Photo, visitors to the Launch Facility look down into the silo through a viewing enclosure where the 90 ton concrete cap had been at a Minuteman II Missile on display. The Delta-09 Launch Facility (shown above) and the Delta-01 Launch Control Facility are part of Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service established in 1999 by the United States Congress. The park's resources are specifically designated to illustrate the history of the Cold War, the nuclear arms race, and development of ICBMs.
National Park Service
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