The Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union went on for around 45 years. The people of the two nuclear powers watched for signs of an attack constantly. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, no one was really sure how to wind down a Cold War. Would the US take advantage of the situation? Would Russia be as belligerent as the USSR once was? Meanwhile, people kept doing their jobs, some better than others. In 1995, when Norway planned to launch a rocket for scientific study, the government notified all its neighbors and allies, including Russia, but the word didn't get to the actual Russian radio technicians in the field. They were Soviet-trained to look for incoming nuclear missiles and determine the level of danger within ten minutes. This rocket looked like a nuclear missile, and traveled like a nuclear missile. They made the call to take the "nuclear suitcase," which contained the codes for a nuclear attack against the US, to Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
Of course, we know the incident did not lead to a Russian nuclear attack, because it if had, we either wouldn't be here or we would have remembered that day. But as it was, the 1995 nuclear scare is said to have been the closest we've ever come to nuclear war, despite very few people knowing what really happened. Read the story yourself at Smithsonian.
(Image credit: NASA/Wallops)
