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Stanislav Petrov, who saved the world from nuclear war and holocaust through his timely and accurate judgement inspite of opposition from colleagues, dies...
Stanislav Petrov, Who Averted Nuclear War, Dies at 77
Man 'who saved the world' dies at 77
Petrov was on night duty at the Soviet military’s early warning facility outside Moscow on Sept. 26, 1983, when an alarm went off, signaling the launch of several U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles. The 44-year-old lieutenant colonel had to quickly determine whether the attack was real. He chose to consider it a false alarm, which it was.
"It was this quiet situation and suddenly the roar of the siren breaks in and the command post lights up with the word 'LAUNCH,'" Petrov told the AP. "This hit the nerves. I was really taken aback. Holy cow!"
"All I had to do was to reach for the phone; to raise the direct line to our top commanders - but I couldn't move. I felt like I was sitting on a hot frying pan."
Within minutes of the first alarm, the siren sounded again, warning of a second U.S. missile launch. Soon, the system was reporting that five missiles had been launched.
“I realized that I had to make some kind of decision, and I was only 50/50,” stated Petrov.
“My team was close to panic and it hit me that if panic sets in then it’s all over,” he said.
Petrov told his commander that the system was giving false information. He was not at all certain, but he was driven by the fact that Soviet ground radar could not confirm a launch. The radar system picked up incoming missiles only well after any launch, but he knew it to be more reliable than the satellites.
The false alarm was later determined to have been caused by a malfunction of the satellite, which mistook the reflection of the sun off high clouds for a missile launch.
Though petrov's correct judgement prevented a nuclear holocaust from occuring, which would have wiped out the U.S., Europe and U.S.S.R , he was instead reprimanded for not filling out the duty log book, and retired from the military.
It was Petrov's superior officer, who had initially opposed him , who revealed this fact after 1991.
Stanislav Petrov, Who Averted Nuclear War, Dies at 77
Man 'who saved the world' dies at 77
Petrov was on night duty at the Soviet military’s early warning facility outside Moscow on Sept. 26, 1983, when an alarm went off, signaling the launch of several U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles. The 44-year-old lieutenant colonel had to quickly determine whether the attack was real. He chose to consider it a false alarm, which it was.
"It was this quiet situation and suddenly the roar of the siren breaks in and the command post lights up with the word 'LAUNCH,'" Petrov told the AP. "This hit the nerves. I was really taken aback. Holy cow!"
"All I had to do was to reach for the phone; to raise the direct line to our top commanders - but I couldn't move. I felt like I was sitting on a hot frying pan."
Within minutes of the first alarm, the siren sounded again, warning of a second U.S. missile launch. Soon, the system was reporting that five missiles had been launched.
“I realized that I had to make some kind of decision, and I was only 50/50,” stated Petrov.
“My team was close to panic and it hit me that if panic sets in then it’s all over,” he said.
Petrov told his commander that the system was giving false information. He was not at all certain, but he was driven by the fact that Soviet ground radar could not confirm a launch. The radar system picked up incoming missiles only well after any launch, but he knew it to be more reliable than the satellites.
The false alarm was later determined to have been caused by a malfunction of the satellite, which mistook the reflection of the sun off high clouds for a missile launch.
Though petrov's correct judgement prevented a nuclear holocaust from occuring, which would have wiped out the U.S., Europe and U.S.S.R , he was instead reprimanded for not filling out the duty log book, and retired from the military.
It was Petrov's superior officer, who had initially opposed him , who revealed this fact after 1991.