Vasili was not the only one to avoid nuclear war: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/26/stanislav-petrov_n_3997962.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0

Vasili was not the only one to avoid nuclear war: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/26/stanislav-petrov_n_3997962.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/26/stanislav-petrov_n_... tl;dr Stanislav Petrov was a Soviet officer working in a satellite recon unit tasked with discovering US nuclear missile launches. One day the system told him that five American rockets had been launched. Proper procedure would have been to inform his superiors so they could strike back. However, he speculated that the warning system was malfunctioning (it was) and did nothing.