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Sept. 26, 1983, when "Stanislav Petrov" made a decision credited by many with averting a nuclear war.
I was simply doing my job, and I was the right person at the right time, that's all.
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An alarm had gone off that night, signaling the launch of U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles, and it was up to the 44-year-old lieutenant colonel to determine, and quickly, whether the attack on the Soviet Union was real.
Sorry, I didn't have time to think about whether I would be the one who started World War III," he said. "I had to decide how reliable the information sent by the computer was."
I was simply doing my job, and I was the right person at the right time, that's all.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
An alarm had gone off that night, signaling the launch of U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles, and it was up to the 44-year-old lieutenant colonel to determine, and quickly, whether the attack on the Soviet Union was real.
Sorry, I didn't have time to think about whether I would be the one who started World War III," he said. "I had to decide how reliable the information sent by the computer was."
