The only exposure to the surface is one large horizontal concrete and steel door (serving as a hardened roof) that was to be opened for launching the Atlas. The door, designed to survive a close but not direct blast, is permanently closed.

Members of MINI5280 take an exclusive tour of the Zwonitzer's 40-year-old abandoned Atlas missile silo which they turned into their home on the high plains of Nebraska.

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ColoradoRick > This is an early 1960's era Atlas E ICBM missile launch facility, located in southwestern Nebraska, along I-80 near Kimball. Commonly referred to as a "silo" but it is not really a silo because the ICBM was stored horizontally in a garage-like enclosure -- "coffin" style. East-west Interstate 80 is in the background. For more Atlas E info, see http://www.siloworld.com/ICBM/ATLAS/ATE/ATLASE.HTM

ColoradoRick > Overall, the facility consists of several very large, concrete hardened, buried rooms connected by tunnels.

ColoradoRick > The only exposure to the surface is one large horizontal concrete and steel door (serving as a hardened roof) that was to be opened for launching the Atlas. The door, designed to survive a close but not direct blast, is permanently closed.

ColoradoRick > Exhaust vents are a couple of egress hatches are about the only recognizable objects on the roof.

ColoradoRick > Notice the remote-controlled video camera in the center. Several radio and satellite antennae, weather measurement devices, as well as a solar panel are located on the northern end of the facility. Notice the wind electric generators on the horizon, to the left.

ColoradoRick > The entrance to the missile (lying horizontally) storage bay is at the right.

ColoradoRick > Twenty MINI5280 members and their MINI Coopers (18 from Denver, 2 from Nebraska) parked outside the facility, near the missile bay door (vertical).

The only exposure to the surface is one large horizontal concrete and steel door (serving as a hardened roof) that was to be opened for launching the Atlas. The door, designed to survive a close but not direct blast, is permanently closed.