Oct 27 2008
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“ Shortly after midnight, the bunker’s computers reported that an intercontinental ballistic missile was heading toward the Soviet Union from the US.[5] Petrov considered the detection a computer error…Petrov dismissed the warning as a false alarm…Had Petrov reported incoming American missiles, his superiors might have launched an assault against the United States, precipitating a corresponding nuclear response from the United States. Petrov declared the system’s indications a false alarm. Later, it was apparent that he was right: no missiles were approaching and the computer detection system was malfunctioning. It was subsequently determined that the false alarms had been created by a rare alignment of sunlight on high-altitude clouds and the satellites’ Molniya orbits, an error later corrected with cross-reference to a geostationary satellite.
— His reward? A demotion to prevent embarrassment to his superiors. Stanislav Petrov - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
