Atlas Missile Silos

The problems with the Atlas the panel mentions were explosive. The twelve silos ringed Roswell, one missile each, and the squadron was turned over to the Strategic Air Command on November 30, 1962, weeks after the Cuban Missile Crisis had kept its crews on continuous alert. In 1963 and 1964 three of the twelve sites were wrecked by explosions while their missiles were being loaded with propellant. The squadron was inactivated on March 25, 1965, less than two and a half years after it went operational, and the sites passed into private hands.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Atlas Missile Silos During the Cold War (1946-1989), this area became home for twelve Atlas missile silo sites - America's first operational Intercontinental Ballistic Missile system. They protected the Strategic Air Command facilities at Walker Air Force Base south of Roswell. Due to problems with the Atlas missile, these sites were deactivated in 1965 shortly before the closure of Walker AFB. The abandoned silos are now privately owned.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• International UFO Museum and Research Center — 18 mi
  A 1930s movie theater on Roswell's Main Street turned into a museum by two men who had been part of the 1947 story, one of them the officer who announced the flying disc.

More markers nearby

• Roswell Pioneer Plaza — 18 mi
• Roswell — 19 mi
• Walker Air Force Base — 19 mi
• Roswell — 20 mi