Nuclear

An ICBM loaded into the silo of the Titan Missile Museum in Tucson, AZ. August 2005.

Cousin John & Iaman paid a visit to the Titan Missile Museum Green Valley, Arizona.

    I recommend a visit be mandatory for all citizens of Nuclear countries.
    Very sobering , especially the museum depicting the early age of ICBM reality.
    Launch crews would not feel hear anything during a launch, they then would be vaporized by a incoming ground burst enemy weapon.
    Launch crews shifts 24 on 48 off,  their families always exposed for annihilation.
    The launch code originated at Offut AFB or another location, without the code the crew could not launch.
    A ~6" Butterfly opening allowing the combining of fuel and oxidizer was the rocket igniter.  All safe guards were protecting this key link, six false launch attempts the valve would be permanently locked out with a pin, requiring a team to enter the missile and reset.
    The guide was a veteran  having served in launch facilities, intelligent and articulate about every aspect of the facility, I asked him if the crew would  discuss the consequences of their launching  missiles, he said "oh yes, quite often".
    The Missiles and sites were serviced by a 400 man contingent from a airbase 20 miles away where redundant parts and systems where kept.
    The launch of the Titan Missile could occur within 58 seconds of receiving a launch command.
    Testing proved the ICBMs had a  86% chance of making it to their targets, as witnessed by our enemies.
    The crews never knew their target. The launch crew would select one of three predetermined, anonymous, targets as well as the altitude for detonation: air-burst for cities or ground burst for hardened targets like missile silos.
    The socket that was dropped, causing a catastrophic explosion was a big-un, 3 or 4 inches.
    Under SAC’s “no-lone” zone, both an officer and enlisted person remained on duty at all times.
    The aging titan systems 6-man crew to one missile was phased out in favor of a newer 2-man crew for 10 missiles.
    The site was built in the desert, then homebuilders surrounded it with developments, schools, parks and shopping centers, all within a hour of being vaporized.

Label and Key for above Map

This map was scary to me in its detail, but curiously the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant is not targeted.

“Glory be to the Bomb, and to the Holy Fallout,” says the Bomb Pope.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Via Cousin John

Funny, I remember the story about the socket wrench being dropped, at least vaguely. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture has the story (yes, it happened in Arkansas). I thought this bit was telling:

At about 3:00 a.m., the two men returned to the surface to await further instructions. Just as they sat down on the concrete edge of the access portal, the missile exploded, blowing the 740-ton launch duct closure door 200 feet into the air and some 600 feet northeast of the launch complex. The W-53 nuclear warhead landed about 100 feet from the launch complex’s entry gate; its safety features operated correctly and prevented any loss of radioactive material. 

So a Titan II is powerful enough to put a 5 ton bomb into orbit, or chunk a 1,000 ton rock 100 feet into the air. Huh.