Blast Doorway to Minuteman II Launch Control Center Delta-01 (1965). From the early 1960s through the mid-1990s, there were 100 Launch Control Facilities for Minuteman II nuclear missiles across the upper Great Plains of the United States—including this one near Philip, North Dakota. Here, two missileers worked and lived on 24-hour-alert duty shifts within the Launch Control Center. The 12-by-28-foot LCC was housed 31 feet below ground in a room suspended by large shock absorbers within a buried, steel-lined, reinforced concrete capsule. Its eight-ton blastproof door had to be opened from inside before an oncoming missile combat crew could enter. A bunk allowed one missileer to sleep while the other kept an eye on the weapons system.