On September 26 1983, just three weeks after the Soviet military had shot down Korean Airlines flight 007, Stanislav Petrov was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early-warning system when the system reported that a missile had been launched from the United States, followed by five more, Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm, and his decision to disobey orders against Soviet military protocol is credited with having prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear strike on the United States and its NATO allies that could have resulted in a large scale nuclear war. After reading this thread I am really fukking disappointed he didn't just follow orders.
Whoa, that was 3 years before my birth exactly.


