Kirsten Dirksen

Living 35 ft underground: inside a preserved Titan II nuclear missile silo

For decades, four missileers at a time lived 35 stories underground in this Titan II command complex outside Tucson, Arizona - working shifts that took them even deeper, 145 stories down into the earth. It tested the limits of both body and mind. When the Cold War ended, nearly every missile silo in the country was destroyed and sealed with concrete. But Complex 571-7, the only intact Titan II complex left, was preserved by former missileers determined to keep their story alive. We got to tour it exactly as it was on the day the program shut down: the bedroom, the kitchen, the command center with its analog punch-card computer, and the missile itself, frozen in time. What struck us most wasn't just the history, but the conditions: the sound, the smell, the lighting, the suffocating weight of being buried deep underground. Our guide told us that for some, the claustrophobia and sensory deprivation were unbearable and that people have passed out just coming down. We've now filmed three silo stories: the Cochise Stronghold Titan II complex 60 miles east of here (571-1); an Atlas silo completely excavated and transformed into a modern home; and this one preserved in its original Cold War state. Together, they tell the story of what it actually took to live underground, and how far people will go to reclaim extreme spaces as home. — Turning giant Cold War missile silo into 50-ton-door underground home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br0Il37t5Uk — 4-generation family builds container fourplex atop giant missile silo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msXPcGQ_rtY https://titanmissilemuseum.org/ On *faircompanies: https://faircompanies.com/videos/living-35-ft-underground-inside-a-preserved-titan-ii-nuclear-missile-silo/