After the Payload-Transporter truck has been positioned over the silo, and the door opened, workers inside the vehicle prepare the special cradle that attaches to the warhead, and remove panels in the floor of the trailer. They also prep the shock-mounted platforms that the Reentry System will rest on during transport back to base. Below ground in the Launch Tube, a worker waits for the cradle to be lowered.

After attaching a hoist to the cradle assembly, they begin slowly lowering it down to workers in the launch tube. While this goes on, technicians in the workcage travel up and down the length of the missile, performing safety inspections and installing "safing pins" designed to prevent various ordinance squibs and explosive bolts from firing.

The RS cradle is jockeyed into position for hookup to the warhead.

With the warhead locked in the cradle, a Missile Maintenance Team member will remove the special bolts mating the Reentry System to the missile, and disconnect the electrical cabling.

At last separated, the Reentry System with its warhead are hoisted back up to the waiting vehicle, where it will be carefully mounted on its transport platform. Then it will be escorted back to base for safekeeping in a Weapons Storage Area bunker. A MMT member watches as the warhead begins the trip up into the PT trailer.

Once again, the silo door is closed so the Payload-Transport(PT) truck carying the warhead can be pulled off the silo apron, and another PT moved into place to recieve the Missile Guidance Set (MGS) and Propulsion Stage Rocket Engine (PSRE). Once the silo door is shut, pitch black overtakes the launch tube, and technicians work with the aid of lights mounted on the workcage, and flashlights. The "can", as the MGS is called, and the PSRE, will be hoisted separately into the second PT truck for transport to base.

This is the view MMT technicians get at the bottom of the silo, some 90 feet below ground. They have to come down here in the workcage to disconnect the Lower Umbilical Cable, as well as install "safing" pins in various areas of the missile airframe. One spark in this area from a dropped tool or electrical short could spell disaster for anyone in the silo area, so personnel use utmost caution. Again, this view is well lit because the photo wastaken in a training facility - a real launch tube has no lights installed in the walls - the only light comes from the workcage lamps. The 4 motor nozzles can just be seen surrounding the orange spacer block; the 3 cylinders extending downward are springs for the Missile Suspension System (MSS), and the foam blocks that pad the MSS from the tube walls can be seen as well. The entire missile balances on the metal ring between the springs, held in place by massive swing arms located farther up the MSS.