To Air Force Lt. Paul Copeland, the MX missile means awesome power and simple decisions. Once a day, 365 days a year, the 23-year-old Carbondale, Ill., native and 39 other young Air Force officers … ...

CHUGWATER - They wait silently beneath these rolling ranchlands, invisible to passing cars, impervious to cattle lumbering overhead but ready to fly in an instant.

Two LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBMs were to be installed on two 87-foot-long launch cars. The LGM-118 Peacekeeper (known also as the MX) missile had a range of almost 6,000 miles.