Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station is located in Colorado Springs -- a short distance from North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command headquarters at Peterson Space Force Base.

At the height of the Cold War in the late 1950s, the idea of a hardened command and control center was conceptualized as a defense against long-range Soviet bombers. The Army Corps of Engineers supervised the excavation of Cheyenne Mountain and the construction of an operational center within the granite mountain. The CMSFS became fully operational as the NORAD Combat Operations Center, Feb. 6, 1967.

Today, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex serves as NORAD and USNORTHCOM's Alternate Command Center and as a training site for crew qualification. Day-to-day crew operations for NORAD and USNORTHCOM typically take place at Peterson Space Force Base.

Public tours of Cheyenne Mountain are not available at this time.

Click here to learn more about NORAD.