10 Real World Star Trek Locations You Can Visit

Data's historical irony — the instrument of mass-destruction that brings in an era of peace — is Star Trek's dream of a better future made so tangible you can almost reach out and touch it. Well, in a sense, you can. For Zefram Cochrane's pioneering warp ship, the Phoenix — risen from the flames of the Third World War — producers of Star Trek: First Contact chose to use a real historical relic of the Cold War — a decommissioned Titan II missile that once carried the largest nuclear warhead ever fitted to an American ICBM.

The Titan II missile site near Tucson, Arizona, where the scenes for First Contact were shot, was one of 54 on alert in the U.S. from 1963 to 1987 and is now a museum designated National Historic Landmark. You can visit the underground facility yourself: the guided tour includes a truly chilling simulated launch, although you won't be able to get quite as up close and personal with the missile as Data and Picard.

As detailed in The Making of Star Trek: First Contact, to achieve the exterior look of the Phoenix as per John Eaves' designs, a dummy "nose-cone mock-up" of the cockpit matching the soundstage and model versions was built, hoisted up, and placed on top of the real 30-odd metre tall Titan II missile in the silo in Arizona. Contrary to Data's analysis, there were no imperfections: "It fitted perfectly."