The idea of a nuclear attack may seem remote, even belonging to another era... but missile silos haven't gone anywhere, and control centers remain operational. With that in mind, the Hill Aerospace Museum offers us the possibility to virtually tour a facility intended for launching ICBMs. The tour includes very detailed descriptions of each element, and although it is evident that it's an older version, it still gives chills...
"I want someone on the damn phone before I kill 20 million people"
The first scene of missile launch in WarGames is full of fiction, but there is a real aspect that hasn't changed at all: There are certain places with the capacity to disintegrate millions of people in a matter of minutes. The doctrine of mutually assured destruction (basically a "Nash equilibrium" with many megatons in the middle) remains intact, and while I write these lines, there are people training and optimizing procedures, facing the possibility that this balance disappears. The Hill Aerospace Museum invites us to take a look at this particular world, in the form of a virtual visit to an ICBM control center.
Explore an ICBM Control Center Virtually
The arrows allow us to change position quickly, and each element has a general description, accompanied by an "i" that presents additional details. For example, on the left we have the launch control console (I recommend starting there), the power supply group, and the dampening systems (the control center is underground and must be protected against all types of shocks and vibrations).
In the center we find the communications control console, everything related to telephony, message processors, a keyboard-printer, and a SACDIN module (Strategic Air Command DIgital Network), a kind of proto-Internet to coordinate communications between launch centers, B-52 bases, and the SAC. Finally, at the other end of the control center we see a toilet and a sink. The crew for the control centers (two officers) is 24-7-365, and in winter seasons (which make it difficult for relief crews to arrive), some rotations have extended for more than 48 hours. The refrigerator and electric oven also don't go unnoticed.
(Editor's note: WebGL must be activated in the browser for the tour to load correctly.)
Official site: Click here
