![]() ![]() It was authorized by Congress in 1999 and has been operated by the National Park Service since 2004. It is here only as a display for visitors to what is now called the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. This missile no longer has a nuclear warhead and is no longer capable of flight. "That is where the underground communications cables which connect with the launch control center bring a positive launch command into the missile's computer." "If you look on the left side of the missile, you see an umbilical cord attached to it," Wilkinson said. On the windswept prairie of western South Dakota, National Park ranger Chris Wilkinson is showing visitors a Minuteman II missile in its silo, visible through a glass roof. VOA's Greg Flakus has the story from Cactus Flat, South Dakota. ![]() Today, visitors to a remote area of South Dakota can see firsthand a missile silo and launching station that are no longer in use and experience what it must have been like for the military men and women who held the fate of the world in their hands. There are still nuclear missiles in place, but relations between the United States and what is now Russia are much improved. Both countries took measures to prevent human or mechanical errors that could have led to a disastrous conflict in which the world as we know it likely would have ended. ![]() During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union targeted each other with thousands of missiles armed with nuclear warheads. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |