A launch facility also known as a missile silo, is an underground vertical cylindrical container for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). They typically have the missile

Missile

Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...

 some distance under the surface, protected by a large "blast door

Blast shelter

A blast shelter is a place where people can go to protect themselves from bomb blasts. It differs from a fallout shelter, in that its main purpose is to protect from shock waves and overpressure, instead of from radioactive precipitation, as a fallout shelter does...

" on top. They are usually connected, either physically or electrically, to a missile launch control center.
Until the 1960s ICBMs had been launched from surface bases.