Reentry Vehicle, Mark 11, Nose Cap

This is a Mark 11 reentry vehicle nose cap, made by Avco. Mark 11s housed the single nuclear warhead on U.S. Air Force Minuteman I and II intercontinental ballistic missiles, which were deployed from the 1960s into the 1990s. This nose cap was flown on a Minuteman test flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base to Kwajalein on an unknown date. It had temperature sensors on the inner aluminum shell that were monitored during the flight. After its retrieval at Kwajalein, samples were taken from the outer ablative coating for laboratory testing.

Textron Systems donated this artifact to the Museum in 2004.