Meet the Russian Who Saved Humanity from Extinction

As nuclear rhetoric picks up in Russia, and the West prepares contingency plans in the event Putin detonates a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, I’m reminded of all the times our species has come close to nuclear annihilation.

Each story is harrowing in its own right, but few nuclear “near-misses” come close to the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the events that took place beneath the waves in October of 1962.

Weeks before the American blockade of Cuba, four Soviet Foxtrot-class submarines left Russia en route to Cuba.