How to launch a nuclear missile
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- Опубліковано 29 тра 2024
- Inside the world's last Titan II nuclear silo. During the Cold War this structure held the most powerful weapon ever deployed by the United States. Today the warhead is gone but eveything else remains; giving me the perfect oportunity to explore the engineering and logistics behind how to launch a nuclear ICBM.
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0:00 Doomsday
0:30 The order arrives
1:40 Into the bunker
4:27 Fueling up
7:45 Launch
10:20 Into the unknown
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Huge thanks to everyone at the Titan Missile Museum for letting me come visit! titanmissilemuseum.org/
With extra thanks to Boneyard Safari for the extra stock footage www.boneyardsafari.com/
Created by James Dingley, Julia Witham, Rafa "I want coffee" Monardez, and Julian Dingley
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This video was brought to you by an unhealthy amount of coffee and our awesome Patrons at / atomicfrontier .
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Hi, I'm James. I explore the world looking for interesting engineering stories which explore complex issues in interesting ways. I've just started a PhD in space robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Join the Atomic Frontier Discord server at / discord
Filming this was a blast! It's great to be back making videos
woah woah woah calm down james. dont blast anything!!
Not sure "Keep looking up" is the suitable catch phrase when talking about nuclear missiles :-)
hehe a blast
Glad to have you back in my feed, man!
I will use this information responsibly :)
this absolute chad comes back after half a year just to tell us how to launch a nuke
This information is going to be useful in the near future.
I was thinking the same thing, glad he’s back!
Chad frontier
Eh!..did a dam good job doing it!!!..got my attention
58 stations seems low, even for un-classified numbers......
The Butterfly Valve Lock code saying "URDEAD" is a nice touch
Thanks! Now I know how to launch if I’m ever visiting a missile silo.
Bring a stick and some tape for the second key!
@@hunterlang578But you'll need to get it past security... The best excuse I can come up with is "I'm blind"
@@OrangeC7 Just tell the security the plan and they will just laugh it off. Works every time. I managed to launch 24 ICBMs this way without the security noticing a thing.
Update: 24 is the limit on how many times you can get away with it.
@@j100j Man you got it good apparently its a violation national security
@@j100j oh it was you launching it on my neighbours...
James Dingley is the 21st century's answer to James Burke. The presentation style is so similar.
I still find it hard to believe this is an independent production and not financed by the BBC. It's genuinely incredible.
The Big Black Cock? What?
His presentation style reminds me of Dan Cruickshank.
My thoughts have also gone to James Burke. Connections was a mainstay of my childhood. James's timing is amazing. There are so few presenters out there who actually move and hit their marks as well as him.
Its so well scripted and presented
Why has this man not aged in 7 years?
It's the Tom Scott Paradox of science youtubers, just don't question it.
It’s obvious, he’s probably a vampire or he’s been cryogenically frozen like fry.
He's got a painting in his attic :-)
This channel is ridiculously underrated. How can someone produce such quality content and only have around 200k subscribers?
Algorithms
Because people like reels and pornogrphy ⁷more 😊😊😊
@@paintpaintpaintco.6039Mister Best
Numbers are numbers
Because the host only uploaded every 6 months a video. That's why
Finally theres a tutorial on this! I've been trying and failing to launch a nuke for years and this tutorial actually worked for me! Thanks Atomic Frontier!
I’m stuck on the big red button part. Do I press it once? Or do I press the green button at the same time? This guy from New Zealand is telling me that had relations with my mum. I hope it’s not true.
@@MarioGoatse Apparently it's some sort of "safety switch" where you have to press both at the same time to avoid accidentially pressing it, so you need to press both at the same time, I hope I helped!
The Titan missile museum near Green Valley, AZ lets amateur radio operators use the multiband antenna on special occasions. It's a big flex in the world of radio to say you're talking on an antenna that used to receive launch codes.
Doesn't need to be a special occasion. They just need to be open, you need to sign the logbook, then you can plug in and Ham away. I don't think the cable is even locked.
@@medivalone Oh cool!!
Your motion tracking has gotten so good! You've really found your own personality and style too. love watching all your videos
I was actually having a crisis last night because I wasn’t sure if he was actually at a silo or it was all green screen. I’m still not sure if it is or not.
@@DrowsySquid75 a crisis ? he is clearly at the silo, if he wasn’t it would be the best CGI ever seen…
@@eoghanleythey meant a mental crisis
Nuclear weapons, biblically accurate angel antennae, and the Dingley swagger? You know you’re in for a good time! I hope you’ve read Command & Control, it adds so much more context to these facilities.
Nicely done, and that from a former crewmember. There was a minor mistake, but I suspect only an actual crew member would have spotted it. Loved the code for the BVLC. On the simulator where I was stationed, it was SACSUX.
i bet you could make such an awesome movie with this concept! a crew of 4 stuck inside a missile silo doubting to go outside because the government may longer not exist.
"The Day After" 1983
I love the Titan Missile Museum, I'm very happy to see you were able to visit! It's an excellent museum and very much worth the trip.
I would love to visit it too. For the time being, I saved the location on Google Maps :-). Very close to Tucson, I see
thank you! i got a nuke off ebay and was wondering how i was ment to launch this thing
Why be a mere spectator in Gotterdammerung when you can *participate!*
@benkloos2827, maybe exchange it with one of the 400 Minuteman III nukes!
At 6:01: "Fill the remaining tank with 90,000 tons of liquid oxygen." I don't think the Titan I's thrust was quite up to the task of lifting that much :-)
I can see how someone not using the metric system can make this mistake... the fact that "a ton" has double meaning in english probably doesn't help either
So how much LOX ?
@@Mic_Glow In the areas where I've lived for the past 55 years, a "ton" has always meant "2,000 pounds", unless it had a "long" or "metric" specifier (and it wasn't used to generically mean "a lot", as in "that cost me a ton of money").
The timing whilst walking down the corridor was amazing!
4:25 "The Titan II missile in her natural habitat" made me think "are we gonna see how the Titan II missiles mate?"
When a Titan I and a Titan II love each other very much, they share a special hug, then 9 months later; out pops a Minuteman III.
That would be the Agena dockings of the Gemini program. What you will observe is that the Titan II pretty much only mates with Atlas Agena.
The editing is insane
I couldn't even tell some of the cards were added in post they blend in so well
Great to see you back! Nice that you got sole access to shoot this video - I think I have seen a few other demonstrations with groups of tourists.
Hands down, one of the best channels on UA-cam! Glad to see you back.
Hey guys, it's Lockpickinglawyer, in the missile silo
Thanks dude this was extremely helpful
I recently got the job of a Commander in the silos and your video was better than my entire training
Truly an Atomic Frontier this time.
I always like your commitment to remembering the script in one take lol
I liked your large Coke bottle with Mentors to demonstrate the hypergolic reaction between hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide.
Well produced video, compliments!
Greetings,
Anthony
Good video. The Titan II silo had side vents for the exhaust plume; two separate tunnels to the surface that exhausted either side of the silo door. They're visible at 9.53 in the vid.
Awesome video! I could tell you were having an absolute blast filming this.
I imagine how buzzing you were to have access to such a cool location!
Yes! Was so happy when they said I could come!
"Backup coffee reserves."
The important stuff.
Thanks a lot. I had forgotten how to launch mine.
when the world needed him, he returned; with info on nuclear weapons no less!
about 7 years ago, Veritasium made a video on the same topic. I just rewatched it, and your storytelling is SO much more compelling. another great vid!
this is the bomb
About a week ago the Corridor Crew had a video about the true size of a nuclear explosion, putting a lot of it into perspective. And now... Now we have been taught how the nukes would have been launched.
Remember people, nukes are not cool. Nukes destroy a LOT.
Amazing video as always, James. ♥
The “await further orders” gives me the chills.
Im so glad the military uses a NUCULAR message delivery system with McDonalds Drive Thru speakers....because those are always so crystal clear!
I live in Arizona and I have gone down into that facility twice. It is quite fascinating.
Hey man, thanks for the tutorial! I've found it really helpful.
Edit: Could you please also make a tutorial on how to land a nuke? Thanks.
...if a nuke actually lands something has gone wrong
You are joking but I would actually be interested in how the nuke finds its target
@@dXXPacmanXXb doesn't 'find', it's aimed. As he relates: preprogrammed engine controls.
@@thekaxmax I dont think its all pre-programmed. It wouldnt be that accurate if it was just all pre-programmed behavior. They are only programming in the target and the launch sequence is probably also preprogrammed. But once its going back down towards its target it cant just hope the wind is going in the right direction
@@thekaxmax it would be also hella unreliable if there was no on-the-fly correction going on
oh hey this channel still exists
Yup, been more than half a year since the last one! In that time I finished my Master's thesis, got really sick (serves me right), toured the continent (I've now got enough videos for month episodes until ~April), and started a Phd in space robotics. It's good to be back publishing videos again
@@AtomicFrontier That's worth the wait!
@@AtomicFrontier woah congrats on the masters! glad to hear youll be posting again!!
Thanks, I'm on a watchlist now for accidently clicking this video.
Sitting in one of these must be one of the weirder Jobs you can do.
You know... waiting for doomsday knowing you might even catch a Nuke before/after you fire yourself one.
Just a though also is that there might be an US Silo pointing at a Russian one wich has the same target in vise versa.
It wasn't really that bad. Politics aside, we had a very macabre sort of trust with the opposition. We trusted each other not to go off half-cocked. We knew that they knew that we were ready to pull the trigger, and they knew the vice versa. Unless something really crazy happened, we felt pretty sure it was going to be a slow day.
@@sparc77 You actually worked in one of these? Thanks for the comment then i feel honored!
May i grab the opportunity and ask what like the average workday looked like? As a Kid i always thought they had to provide some sort of entertainment so you dont get bored to sleep beeing there. Is there actually something to do apart from beeing ready for the worst case all the time?
@@NewRSM1994 It did get boring at times.
I was in the 533rd SMS at McConnell AFB in Kansas. I was in my early 20s at that time.
A typical day (it was called an "alert") started with predeparture briefing at 0700. For the most part that consisted of them telling us if there were any issues going on that we needed to know about.
Then we would load up in our crew vehicle and drive out to the site (unless it had snowed and then we would take a Huey out to the site).
Once there, our commander would authenticate our identity and then we would go downstairs to the control center and do a crew changeover where we verify that all the classified documents are accounted for and we are up to date on the status of the missile.
After the other crew departs, we would do some daily operations which included a top to bottom inspection of the site. That usually took a couple of hours.
If there was any maintenance going on, we had to keep track of what they were doing.
The rest of the regular day we would do training packages, receive many communications, and support any other maintenance requirements.
After the maintenance teams had left for the day, we would settle down (often switch to more comfortable clothing) and spend the rest of the afternoon, evening and night studying for college classes (if you were taking one) watch TV (believe it or not, the most popular TV show among the crews was "The Muppet Show"), read, play music etc. After 6pm, we went to split shifts. Two people would go to bed and two people would stay awake. Then at midnight, we would do a midnight walk through and then the two who had stayed awake would go to bed and the two who had slept early would remain on duty the rest of the night.
During all that time, we constantly got messages from the HQ which had to be checked to see if they were launch messages or not.
Finally, somewhere between 8am and 9am the relief crew would arrive and we would do the reverse of when we arrived. Once the relief crew took possession of the site, we would go topside and take the same vehicle they had arrived in back to the base and then stand down. Overall, an alert would last about 30 hours.
The day we returned was a recoup day and were had the rest of that day off. Then next two days would usually involve some form of training (unless it was a weekend). Then the whole thing started over again. All in all we went on an alert every 3 days.
For the most part, it was a good job to have. We didn't have to worry about being deployed overseas or anything like that. But it also had some down sides. In those days, college age kids had a lot of animosity toward missile crewmen. But overall, we had each others' backs so we never lacked for friends.
It's great to see you back to making videos!
I can already see the popup 'Do you want to change Attributes, skills or appearance?' The moment approach that escape shaft.
I visited the place 3 years ago. A MUST go when you are in the Phoenix area. Beautiful but deadly.... and an MUST see for Star Trek "First contact" fans. Very nice video. Thanks
I actually got to visit this museum a few days after your video and your video was a big reason why, so thanks!
I wonder how much more advanced today's nuclear missile silos are if they can show this stuff publically like that
Nuke submarines deffenatly and maybe they have hypersonic drone deployment system
When I listened to this in bed first, I had no idea the 'steel raised platform' would be this over-engineered.
amazing. how did you get access to this ? this site is decommissioned but still I can't imagine someone could visiting and filming. Congrats, great video !
It's the titan missile museum south of Tucson az
@@b.buster thank you, I didn't know (I am from Italy)
@@AndreaZzzXXX There are also multiple Minuteman missile museums across the midwest too, with the full bunker, command center, etc setup, very similar to those still used today, like the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site by Cooperstown, North Dakota.
4:30
i like how they left the gaping cut out to remove the plutonium sphere of the warhead, certainmy with a circular saw, and left a gaping hole in the missile like that.
“Keep looking up” becomes rather sinister in this context huh
Thank you for the advice!
I will try to apply this to my projects!
Thanks for this simple tutorial. Simple to understand.
Very well done.
Also, good walk and talk timing for when the pipes came up.
Thanks! I followed your guide and it worked!
05:25 judging from the burnt arm hair, that wasn't the first take 😂
Good spotting! I was entirely unprepared for how big that first explosion was going to be.
Incredible quality, subscribed!
Watching a video with that title alone puts us all on a watch list
Another great video! Thanks for sharing this with us!
I loved this video! Please keep making more. Your style is refreshing and has a unique charm that keeps my attention.
One of the well-choreographed videos I've seen!!
VERY WELL DOCUMENTED .... gaind my subscription.....keep up the good work
Why is this the first time i find this channel?! The video was simply BRILLIANT.
for so long ive been trying to launch a nuclear ICBM and kept failing but finally there is a tutorial for it
This is crazy I was literally just there at that same silo on a tour! Amazing place, I'd totally recommend it.
Yay, you're back! Thanks for another great video. :)
i really needed this
videos like these makes youtube underrated
Well done! Many Thanks for the video!
Thanks for the tutorial
He was telling us about nuclear war and apocalypse with happy face.
thanks for the tutorial video! i was looking for something like this for my home nuclear missile
Great video as always!
Thanks man, I was really looking for a tutorial on this particular topic.
Great to see you're back, lovely content as always
Very useful tutorial! Im gonna use it later.
This was top notch, thanks mate.
Welcome back! great vid on Titan II, also lol nice one on the butterfly valve code.
Thanks! I'll know for next time.
Thanks, will try it!
Thanks for the tutorial it really helped!
Thanks for the help!
Best way to start my morning before work. Welcome back!
perfect film making. good job
Appreciate the tutorial. Was standing here wondering what's what.
Thanks for the tutorial.
Great video and story telling :)
You are REALLY good at this. Hope you keep making videos. I'll keep watching. Subscribed.
I’m incredibly impressed with your production quality and presentation style
Well done, James!
Thanks for the toturial 👍 ima test it real quick
Great video, and absolutely recommend visiting the museum.
Wonderful vid, it's insane how terrifying ICBM test launches are.
Helped. Thanks
Thanks. I needed a tutorial, just what I was looking for.
I'm new to the channel and I gotta say your content really hits the Rollercoaster, your channel is underrated and it hurts me to see other people with unbelievably unnecessary waste of time contents get more than 1 or 2 mil subs and when it comes to science or to something educational you only get the crumbs. What a generation we live in eh?
Keep doing what you're doing, it will prosper sooner than you think. Kudos 👍
Thanks bro I couldn’t figure it out myself this video was really helpful
As a war criminal, I thank you for the information
Love your energy dude - your presentation style is top tier
Very helpful tutorial, thanks a bunch