Unsung Russian "The Man Who Saved the World" Hero Gets His Due
Russia’s Stanislav Petrov awarded for averting nuclear war
Tags: Russia, Opinion & Analysis, Society, World, nuclear weapons
Natalya Kovalenko
22.11.2012, 19:19
Stanislav Petrov, the retired Soviet officer, who averted a nuclear war back in 1983, has been awarded the Dresden Preis 2013.
Late September 26, 1986 an alarm signaling a US missile attack went off inside the secret bunker at Serpukhov-15, 100 km off Moscow. The warning system's computer concluded that five missiles had been launched from a base in the United States. Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov was on duty that night and had to make a decision. He had little time to think. Instructions prescribed him to report to superiors who, in their turn, were to consult with Soviet leaders on launching a retaliatory attack. But common sense told him that five intercontinental ballistic missiles were too few for a nuclear war. So Petrov decided that the alert was a false alarm and didn’t press the Start button.Petrov was right: the satellite early-warning system had a flaw as it was activated by sunlight reflected from high-altitude clouds. Later, the space monitoring system was adjusted to avoid such glitches. As the incident was Top Secret it wasn’t spoken about until 1988.
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Source: Voice of Russia
We, at Statement Film, are thrilled to see Stanislav Petrov receive this long overdue recognition as the proud producers of "The Man Who Saved the World", a narrative film that honors Stanislav Petrov's actions and shares insight into his life then and now. If you'd like to see more check out our film trailer via our Kickstarter page. And if you, by chance, also feel moved to back our campaign to complete the film, we certainly wouldn't complain. http://kck.st/10dMrNr