Shall We Play a Game?

My son initiated a launch sequence test… video

The two keys to launch the missile are stored in a red safe with two personal padlocks, one for each underground crew member. The launch controls are nine feet apart and both keys have to be turned within two seconds of each other, and then held for five. The goal was to prevent any one person from launching the missile.

The facility was pre-programmed with three targets to choose from, known to the crew only as 1, 2 or 3. They were never told what the target was.

Given this permanent installation in southern Arizona, I wonder what the logical targets would be… in the height of the Cold War when missile counts outnumbered targets?

The facility’s highest state of alert was November 22, 1963, when President Kennedy was shot. While the Pentagon tried to analyze the assault, the keys used to launch the missile were moved by special order to the table top you see here to be able to launch without the delay of opening the safe.

More photos of the Launch Control Complex below, and photos of the Titan II missile here, the largest land-based ICBM ever used by the U.S.