FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Sundlov
August 27, 2009
(701) 797-3691
COOPERSTOWN – Beginning Wednesday, September 16, visitor hours will change at the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site near Cooperstown. The state historic site actually consists of two sites – the Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility (MAF) and the nearby November-33 Launch Facility (LF).
Visitor hours will change at Oscar-Zero, where the maintenance crews lived and manned the launch control center. November 33, where the actual launch facility is located, is open for viewing all the time, year-round.
Oscar-Zero is currently operating on its summer schedule, which remains in effect through September 15. Summer schedule hours are daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time. From September 16 through October 31, it will be 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 November 1 through February 28, it will be open by appointment only. And from March 1 through May 15, it will again be 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.
Located on the front lines of the Cold War, the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site preserves and interprets the story of the Minuteman missile system as well as the people working in and living around the missile sites.
The site opened its doors to the public July 13. 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 (START) 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.
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 and November-33 are the military designation names of these facilities.
Guided tours are given at the Oscar-Zero site, where facility managers, security forces, maintenance teams, and cooks lived. In addition to seeing the topside facilities where they lived, visitors 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.
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 (SHSND) Foundation. There is no charge to visit the November-33 Launch Facility, which is available for viewing year-round.
Free admission to all sites administered by the State Historical Society of North Dakota is one of the many benefits for members of the SHSND Foundation. Others include a 15 percent discount on museum store purchases, and the quarterly publications North Dakota History and Plains Talk. To become a member, call the Foundation at (701) 222-1966 or visit the website at www.statehistoricalfoundation.com. For information on how to become a member of The Friends of Oscar-Zero, visit the website www.oscarzero.com.
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Address:
612 East Boulevard Ave.
Bismarck, North Dakota 58505
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Hours:
Exhibit galleries and Museum Store: 8am - 5pm M-F; Sat. & Sun. 10am - 5pm.
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phone: (701) 328-2666
fax: (701) 328-3710
email: histsoc@nd.gov
