Since the end of the Cold War, the ruins of America’s nuclear infrastructure have devolved into something in between a graveyard and a playground, thanks to the revival of America’s atomic tourism industry.
In 1965, 53 missileers died when a Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silo in Arkansas caught fire; in 1980, another Titan II missileer died in the same state after the missile exploded. But while the Titan II was decommissioned in 1987, you can now book a $500-a-night stay in a Titan II silo in Arkansas that has been converted into a luxury Airbnb. It seems that everyone wants to spend time in missile silos, except for actual missileers, among whom there’s long been a crisis of morale—and a high incidence of cancer.
This project illustrates Americans’ skewed perception of nuclear risk by exploring the growth of atomic tourism in Arkansas alongside the increase of missile-related cancers.
In recent years, former Titan II crew members have taken it upon themselves to investigate the connection between their cancer diagnoses and the highly toxic materials they handled during their time in the missile program.
But their efforts are hindered by the distorted legacy of the Cold War, which erases the contributions of so-called “peacetime veterans” and reduces the reality of nuclear weapons to cheap spectacle. That distorted legacy is on full display in Arkansas, where the Titan II program has become fodder for TikTok content and where the National Cold War Center has recently been established.
