Blast off!

During the Cold War, a 33-acre complex lay 25 miles south of Tucson, Arizona, deep beneath the surface of the Sonoran Desert.

By the 1950s, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union realized the limitation of utilizing long-range strategic bombers as delivery systems for nuclear payloads. In response, both nations acknowledged the potential of rocketry as a weapon and began a variety of competitive experimental programs.

The United States government developed a variety of intercontinental ballistic missiles working in tandem with the fledgling U.S. Space program. JFK charged the U.S. to land on the Moon and missile technology exploded in tandem with the space race and "missile gap" pressures. The Air Force's goal in launching the Titan program was to develop a longer range and bigger payload missile that also could serve as a booster for manned and unmanned space flights.

The top-secret facility, known as Complex 571-7, housed a Titan II missile equipped with a nuclear warhead. The Titan series served as a workhorse for military and NASA operations, sending everything from satellites to astronauts into space. The Titan II was the United States' most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile.

8-foot thick silo walls and 3-ton blast doors protect the complex. Enormous springs within the structures suspend the control center and critical equipment, enabling it to withstand everything from earthquakes to a nuclear explosion.

While operational, the 7.5-ton missile carried a 9-megaton warhead capable of destroying an entire city. It was capable of travelling 6,000 miles to a Soviet target in just over half an hour This colossal weapon lay dormant, ready to launch at a moment's notice in the event of a strike order and the commencement of World War III. Fortunately, such an event never occurred.

At the end of the Cold War, the facility became the Titan Missile Museum and an inoperable missile sits in place of the original Titan II. Now a national landmark, it serves as a reminder of the perilous Cold War era and the technological innovations used to deter nuclear war.

Podcast Written and Narrated by David Tatem, Public History Student at the University of West Florida.