Missile site hours change for March

Beginning Tuesday, March 1, visitor hours will change at the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site near Cooperstown. At that time through Sunday, May 15, it will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays-Saturdays, and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. It will be closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays during this time.

The site opened its doors to the public July 13, 2009. It is managed by the state’s history agency, the State Historical Society of North Dakota. The most contemporary of the state historic sites managed by the SHSND, the Minuteman Missile Site was operational until 1997, when it was deactivated by the U.S. Air Force as a condition of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

The site is named after Reagan as a result of legislation approved by the 2007 Legislative Assembly to honor the 40th president’s role in ending the Cold War.

The state historic site consists of two sites — the Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility and the nearby November-33 Launch Facility. Oscar-Zero is located about four miles north of Cooperstown on N.D. Highway 45, and November-33 is two miles east of Cooperstown on N.D. Highway 200. The sites are about six miles apart. Oscar-Zero is also located about 70 miles northwest of Fargo. Oscar-Zero and November-33 are the military designation names of these facilities.

Visitors to Oscar-Zero are given a guided tour of topside facilities and will learn how the facility managers, security forces, maintenance teams, and cooks lived their daily lives at the MAF. Guests may also choose to be guided down the elevator shaft to the underground Launch Control Equipment Building and Launch Control Center, where they will see first hand the front lines of the United States’ strategy of nuclear deterrence. They will be able to step behind the concrete blast door and witness the environment that was experienced by the missile crews.

At November-33 visitors will see the topside of a launch facility, including the massive launch closure door which once protected a missile, an imposing security fence, the electronic security system, and the ventilation systems that served the underground equipment buildings. The topside appears exactly as it did during its existence as an active launch facility before it was closed in 1997.

From May 16 through Sept. 15, the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Site is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. From Sept. 16 through Oct. 31, it is open Mondays and Thursdays-Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m., closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. From Nov. 1 through Feb. 28, it is open by appointment only.

Admission to the Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility is $10 per adult, ages 16 and over, $3 per child, ages 6-15, and children 5 and under are admitted free. School groups are $1 per student, with chaperones and bus drivers admitted free. A season pass is $30 per family, and $15 per individual. Tour bus rates are $2 a person for groups of 20 people or more; or $40 for groups of less than 20 people. There is free admission for members of The Friends of Oscar-Zero and members of the State Historical Society of North Dakota Foundation. There is no charge to visit the November-33 Launch Facility, which is available for viewing year-round.

For information on how to become a member of The Friends of Oscar-Zero, visit the website www.oscarzero.com.

For more information, contact Site Supervisor Mark Sundlov by calling 701-797-3691 or e-mail msundlov@nd.gov.

Tags: other events, diversions