Despite living in Tucson for almost 20 years the Titan Missile Museum was one of the few places neither Mik or I had been to before. Considering Mik's fascination with military history it is rather surprising we never even thought about visiting before.
We arrived a few minutes after the noon tour began and decided to join it and miss a few minutes of the movie rather than wait for the next tour at 1 p.m. The movie is interesting about the history of the silo and launch center, but I don't feel we missed out on anything since you get some plus more info while touring the silo and the tour guides seem to be quite capable of fielding questions.
After the movie ended, the tour heads outside to go down to the launch center. Before heading down we stopped to hear them sound the siren, which was not a regular thing. It is very loud, but surprisingly Mik didn't freak out too much, although that was mainly because they gave a clear warning that it was happening.
There are 55 steps down to the entrance of the control center and for those that cannot do stairs they use what originally was more for freight use. When going up and down the tour guide made sure we knew when the bell was going to sound for the closing and opening above the elevator shaft. The sound was really nothing after the siren, but still Mik can be sensitive to sound and really appreciated having warning.
The rest of the tour is all on the same level and involves going through the blast doors, doing a simulated launch in the control center, and going over to see the Titan II Missile in the silo. We found the tour to be interesting. The only part Mik did not really like was the bumpy metal ground in the hallway down to the missile silo, but his comment was just that he was glad he did not have that flooring in his house.
Back up top the tour ends, but you can then wander around up top before heading back out through the museum building. Mik did not want to spend too much time wandering around in that he did not want us to stop in read every sign, which I agreed was unnecessary with the tour giving all that info already. Walking over to the top of the silo and going up the platform they have built over it to allow you to look down at the missile was worthwhile.
Destination Info:
Titan Missile Museum
1580 W Duval Mine Rd
Sahuarita, Arizona
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