Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, in 1983, saved the world from nuclear war

September 26, 1983, the year the Soviet Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov was on duty at the command post Serpukhov-15, 100 km from Moscow. The Cold War was in full swing. The objective was to observe Petrova sensors space early warning system to launch nuclear missiles. If sensors are notified of a nuclear attack, Petrov's duty would be to immediately notify the leadership of the country, who decides whether to apply retaliation.

So, on September 26 Petrova computer alerted about the launch of rockets to the American base. Despite the terrible threat, Colonel retained complete composure. He analyzed the sensor readings and troubled by the fact that the missile launch was made of a single point, and the missiles themselves were only a few. Petrov came to the conclusion that the case is a failure of the system and did not inform the high command. As it turned out later, the sensors lit reflected from clouds sunlight. This problem has been corrected.

Iron self Petrov may have saved the life of all of us, in fact, start because of this error, a nuclear war, the consequences would be devastating.

January 19, 2006 in New York at UN headquarters Stanislav Petrov was awarded the special prize of the international public organization "Association of World Citizens." It is a crystal statuette "The hand holding the globe" engraved on it the inscription "To the person who prevented a nuclear war».

via factroom.ru