Lieutenant colonel Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov is probably a name you have never heard of but should have. I am sure his name and story will never make it into any history books. So what is so special about Lieutenant colonel Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov?
Lieutenant colonel Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov of the Russian Soviet Air Defence Forces was the guy with his finger on the button at the Serpukhov-15 Nuclear Missile bunker near Moscow on September 26, 1983.
During this time in 1983 there were severely strained relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Only three weeks earlier, the Soviet military had shot down a South Korean passenger jet that entered Soviet airspace. All 269 people on board were killed including several Americans, one of which was US congressman Larry McDonald.
Also during this time NATO was soon to begin there military exercise called Able Archer 83, the preparations for which had been interpreted by the KGB as preparation for a first strike. So you can imagine how high the tensions were!
Petrov’s main responsibilitie wass observing the early warning satellite network and when inbound missiles are detected, he was under orders to launch an immediate nuclear counter-attack against the United States. Shortly after midnight on September 26, 1983 , Lieutenant colonel Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov bunker’s computers reported that an intercontinental ballistic missile was heading toward the Soviet Union from the US. Luckily Petrov disobeyed that order believing it was a computer glich and that the United States wouldn’t launch just one missile in a first strike.
It is amazing how close we came to nuclear war and it would probably be pretty scary to know how many times we have been this close over the years.
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