Our next stop was the Delta 09 Launch Facility.

From 1963 to 1991 there were 1000 of these sites scattered across the sparsely populated plains.  Their location was never secret, they could be seen from the highway.  The Missile Silo once housed a Minuteman II Intercontinental  Ballistic Missile, ICBM, now it houses only a model.  These missiles had a range of 7,500 miles in 30 minutes and could land within 900 yards of their intended target.  These missiles were so destructive that the US vowed never to use them in a first strike. Nearby is the Launch Control Facility Delta 01, which we will visit the next time we head west.  Although this site is only a historic site with a decoy missile, rest assured there are still 450 minutemen missiles deployed across the Northern Great Plains protecting us from evil.