@mattblaze While the Atlas (more so than Titan I would argue) turned out to be a lousy ICBM, it had quite the career as a launch vehicle. Not quite as legendary as the R-7 though.I think we can all be thankful that the ICBMs have remained "quietly heroic."

@mattblaze The illogic of nuclear deterrence has always amazed me.We're supposed to believe our adversaries will carefully and rationally weigh costs and benefits, and realize they will be destroyed by our nuclear retaliation, and therefore they must not attack us.Our adversaries are supposed to believe we are mad enough to destroy the whole world, with ourselves and our own children in it, for revenge.

@mattblaze I dunno, have you ever looked into the Nike-Hercules Missile Battalion? That was a pretty terrible decision too.

@mattblaze I take your point but, given that an ICBM has never* been used in combat, I would argue that they classify as “quietly heroic infrastructure”. Regardless, your shots are impressive, both technically and aesthetically. —* The jury is still out regarding the Dnipro strike.