Delta-01 Launch Control Facility

Delta-01 functioned as topside support for the underground Launch Control Center which lay 31 feet below the Launch Control Facility. It acted as a multi-purpose facility. To see the interior of Delta-01, visitors need to attend a ranger-guided tour. Due to the size of the elevator and the confined space underground, tours are limited to 6 visitors at a time.

• The Launch Control Facility Delta-01 site occupies an open, grassy tract of land on the west side of the Jackson County Road CS 23A, approximately 0.5 miles north of Interstate Highway 90, Exit 127. The entire site is 6.4 acres with approximately 1.9 acres located inside the security fence. Delta-01 is located in a rural setting and the site's access road, Jackson County Road, is an improved gravel road. The landscape surrounding Delta-01 is open agricultural land of native grasses. A couple of small agricultural outbuildings are located to the east of the site. From the site, a distant view of Interstate 90 and a billboard is visible to the south. Delta-01 includes fourteen contributing resources - the Delta-01 site, Launch Control Facility support building, Launch Control Center, heated vehicle storage building, hard HF transmit antenna, hard high-frequency (HF) receive antenna, hardened ultra-high frequency (UHF) antenna, survivable low frequency communication system antenna, cathodic protection rectifier, sewage lagoon, helicopter pad, ICBM super-high frequency satellite terminal antenna, television satellite dish, and HICS. Delta-01 does not include any noncontributing resources. Terrain at the site rises gradually toward the north. A chain-link security fence, topped with strands of barbed wire, encloses the site's buildings and structures. Access to the site is provided by a gently curving gravel driveway on the west side of the county road. The driveway passes over a steel cattle guard and through a remote-controlled, chain-link, sliding gate in the security fence. The Launch Control Facility support building and the vehicle storage building are located just inside the security fence, and an asphalt drive and parking area are located in front of them. The Launch Control Center, accessed from the Launch Control Facility support building, is located below ground and is not visible. The remaining area inside the security fence is covered with native grass that was routinely mowed by the Air Force. The area inside the security fence includes a variety of electronic, mechanical, and recreational features to support the facility, including a volleyball court, horseshoe pit, underground diesel storage tank, aboveground diesel storage tank, water well, gas pump, basketball hoop, flagpole, and utility poles. A code burner is located in the grassy area near the volleyball court. This open metal drum mounted on metal legs was used to burn security codes. These associated features and landscape elements provide insight into the use of the facilities by the Air Force and are significant elements of the site. The HF transmit antenna, hard HF receive antenna, hardened UHF antenna, survivable low-frequency communication system antenna, ICBM super-high-frequency satellite terminal antenna, and television satellite dish are located within the security fence. The cathodic protection rectifier is located outside the security fence along the access road. The underground HICS is not visible at the site. A concrete helicopter pad and two sewage lagoons are located outside of the security fence to the south. The area outside of the security fence features native grasses. A barbed-wire fence with wooden posts surrounds the facility's two sewage lagoons in the southeast comer of the site. The Minuteman ICBM Launch Control Facility Delta-01 contains a wealth of historic objects, furnishings, and technical equipment that reflect the successive use of the facilities by the Air Force. Delta-01, complete with its contents, was transferred from the Air Force to the National Park Service. The historic objects, furnishings, and equipment provide valuable insight into the use of this facility by the Air Force. The contents of Delta-01 are important and are considered associated features of the site.

Delta-09 Missile Silo

From 1963 until the early 1990s, the missile silo at Delta-09 contained a fully operational Minuteman Missile, bearing a 1.2 megaton nuclear warhead. The Delta-09 missile silo was one of 150 spread across western South Dakota. In total there were 1,000 Minuteman's deployed from the 1960's into the early 1990's. Visitors can now tour the site on their own.

• The Delta-09 site is located approximately 10 miles west-northwest of Launch Control Facility Delta-01. The Launch Facility occupies part of an open, grassy tract of land straddling a Pennington County Road, about 0.6 miles west and south of Interstate 90 Exit 116. The 90 acre site includes 10 acres that were in exclusive use by the Air Force including 1 acre within the security fence and 80 acres that were in concurrent use by the Air Force. The Delta-09 site includes nine contributing resources—the overall site, the missile launcher, the Launch Facility support building, the improved Minuteman physical security antenna, the hard UHF antenna, the cathodic protection rectifier, two azimuth markers, and a HICS cable marker. Delta-09 is surrounded on the north, west, and south sides by Buffalo Gap National Grassland property under ownership of the United States Forest Service. The launch structures are concentrated inside a rectangular area surrounded by a chain-link security fence. A double gate is located on the east side of the security fence. A gravel access drive leads from the double gate to the nearby county road. The area inside the enclosure has been graded to form a level, earthen platform that is elevated a few feet above the surrounding terrain. The platform has a gravel surface, and was specifically planned to provide maneuver space for the truck-like transporter-erector vehicles that hauled and emplaced the Minuteman missiles. The area surrounding the platform is native grass and the area was routinely mowed by the Air Force. The missile launcher and soft support building are located near the southern end of the maneuver space platform, with most of their structural elements underground. A smaller rectangular area at the north end of the platform outlined by four, low, small concrete corner pylons served as a landing pad for helicopters. Floodlights mounted atop two wooden utility poles at opposite comers of the maneuver space provided illumination for nighttime maintenance activities at the site. Two remnants of the concrete-base pad from the earlier outer zone security system antennas remain at the site: a square concrete pad with four reflector mount pedestals is located to the southwest (rear) of the missile launcher and a clutter monument and footing of the antenna pedestal are located to the rear (south) of the Launch Facility support building.

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center

The visitor center is the best place to begin your visit to the park and explore the story of the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System and its role in the larger context of the Cold War. Staff are available daily to assist visitors in learning more about the park. Visitor amenities include restrooms, public wi-fi, exhibits, park film, and a bookstore. During the summer travel counselors from the South Dakota Department of Tourism are available.

• The approximately 7,300-square-foot Minuteman Missile Historic Site Visitor Center is comprised of two wings extending from a two-story glass-fronted lobby. One wing houses 10 exhibits, with two of the larger exhibits filling a two-story section of this otherwise one-level wing. There is one additional exhibit in the lobby itself, which also holds an information desk and other features that introduce visitors to the larger context of this historic site. Also accessible from the lobby are an America’s National Parks bookstore and gift shop, a theater or multi-purpose room, men’s and women’s restrooms, and two drinking fountains, one with a sensory-activated bottle-filling station. The building’s second wing, located off the lobby to one side of the information desk, holds the site’s administrative offices. This area is not open to the public. This audio-described tour provides information about all indoor exhibits and visitor amenities as well as the building’s exterior architecture and two outdoor installations located near the entrance. The tour will help visitors explore the story of the Minuteman Missile’s role as part of the United States policy of nuclear deterrence during the Cold War through the description of photos and text, artifacts, films, slideshows, and a number of interactive displays. Aside from three slightly upward-sloping concrete walkways leading from the site’s two parking lots to the building’s wide concrete plaza, the landscape outside the building is generally flat. Likewise, there are no stairs leading into the building nor within the exhibits themselves; this site is wheelchair-accessible throughout. Most of the interior floors are carpeted with the exception of a large area of concrete flooring in the building’s lobby, concrete flooring in the two restrooms, and a circular section of smooth industrial laminated plastic flooring in one of the exhibits. There are also two rectangular metal floor grates intended to trap dirt from shoes; one is located inside the lobby vestibule, the other is in front of an emergency door at the rear of the lobby near the drinking fountains. As you walk through the exhibit spaces, you may encounter a number of metal electrical receptacles jutting up approximately 1/8 inch from the carpet. Likewise, there are a series of aluminum strips surrounding and crisscrossing the laminated plastic floor area. These changes underfoot will be noted as part of specific exhibit descriptions. The tour will also help navigate you around several free-standing panels, wall ledges, missile artifacts, and furniture making up some of the exhibits. There are a number of benches—either movable or fixed—placed near both the building entrance as well as inside the lobby. In addition, receptacles for trash and recycling, as well as tall smoking stands, are placed outside the entrance. Smoking is not permitted inside the Visitor Center. Firearms and pets are also prohibited. Service animals, however, are allowed inside the Center.

Missile Site Park

The former nuclear warhead equipped Atlas E site was constructed in 1961. There were a total of four Atlas E sites in Weld County. This particular missile site was deactivated in 1965 and was turned over to Weld County where today it serves as a county park.

Oscar-Zero Minuteman Missile Alert Facility

The Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility near Cooperstown, North Dakota was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Also known as Oscar-Zero MAF and as O-0 MAF, it exemplifies Utilitarian architecture. Oscar-Zero is included in North Dakota's Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site with the November-33 Launch Facility.

Quebec-One MAF

Built in 1962 as a Minuteman missile launch control facility, Quebec-01 was re-purposed for the Peacekeeper Missile in 1986 and was used until 2005. Twenty-five miles north of Cheyenne, the Quebec 01 Missile Alert Facility is open to the public as a Wyoming State Park.

South Dakota Air & Space Museum

The South Dakota Air & Space Museum boasts an extensive collection of artifacts and documents that capture the distinguished history of Ellsworth Air Force Base, the 44th Strategic Missile Wing, and the 28th Bomb Wing throughout the Cold War.

Minuteman Missile NHS Visitor Center

• Minuteman Missile NHS Visitor Center
• The visitor center is the best place to begin your visit to the park. Exhibits, films, and a bookstore allow visitors to explore the story of the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System and its role in the larger context of the Cold War. ***Please Be Aware*** The park will NOT be changing days of operation. The park will be open Tuesday-Saturday through the summer and winter seasons.

• Tour the Front-line of the Cold War at Delta-01
• Learn what it was like to have the awesome responsibility of thermonuclear war at your fingertips. The thirty-minute guided tour of the control center at Delta-01 begins with a walk through of the grounds and topside support building. Visitors then descend via elevator 31 feet underground to the Launch Control Center to see the electronic consoles used by missileers to control ten Minuteman II missiles. To provide for visitor safety, each tour is limited to six participants.

• The Minuteman Missile Mobile Tour
• A Mobile Phone guided tour of Delta-09 and Delta-01 is available for visitors to learn the history of Minuteman Missile on the Great Plains and how it was operated for thirty years. Narrated by veterans who served in the Air Force at these sites, the tours explain the history, impact, and importance of the Minuteman Missile system. Visit the Audio Tours page on the Minuteman Missile NHS's website, or use the links below. 

• Spot a (Former) Nuclear Missile Silo
• The South Dakota landscape hides former missile silo sites in plain sight - many of them can be found in-between Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, Interstate 90, and Badlands National Park. Once you know where to look, these remnants of the Cold War are easily found.

• Get Your National Park Passport Stamped at Minuteman Missile
• The Passport program was started by Eastern National in 1986 and was established to help visitors discover the beauty and history found in America’s national parks. Cancellation stamps can be found at national parks and monuments. These rubber-stamp ink markings record the name of the park and the date of your visit.

• Visit the Delta-01 Launch Control Facility
• For every 10 Minuteman nuclear missiles (know as a Flight) there would be a Launch Control Facility that housed Air Force personnel. Delta- 01 occupies an open, grassy tract of land approximately one-half mile north of Interstate 90. Approaching the site from the Interstate, it looks like a lone ranch house in the open grassland. Over the years, most travelers probably did not give the site a second look or even know what military capabilities lay hidden within.

• Driving Delta Flight
• This activity is a vehicle-based driving tour beginning at the visitor center, and visiting all eleven locations that made up Delta Flight. Follow in the path of Air Force personnel and travel the South Dakota back-roads to visit the ten silos and control center of Delta Flight, which once kept 12 megatons of destructive power constantly on alert.

• Consider Deterrence and Destruction at Delta-09
• Gaze Armageddon in the face with a visit to the Delta-09 missile silo. The viewing enclosure over the silo allows for visitors to gaze directly down at a Minuteman II missile. Consider the meaning of 1.2 megatons of destructive power hidden in plain sight.

Delta-01 and Delta-09 Audio Tours

Take a tour of the Delta-09 historical site with Bret Whitmore, a former missile security policeman, and learn about the history and features of the missile launch facility. Listen to it while walking around the site or from anywhere at your convenience. Bill West served as a Flight Security Controller at Delta-01 when it was an active facility. Come inside the Launch Control Facility and learn all about it. You can listen to this tour outside the gate at Delta-01 or from anywhere at your convenience