Lesser known instances where we came close to Nuclear War

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Soviets drafted plans to drop nuclear bombs on China in 69:

Further border clashes occurred in August 1969, this time along the western section of the Sino-Soviet border in Xinjiang. Heightened tensions raised the prospect of a nuclear war between China and the Soviet Union. In the early 1960s, the United States had "probed" the level of Soviet interest in joint action against Chinese nuclear weapons facilities; now the Soviets probed what the United States' reaction would be if the USSR attacked the facilities.

Sino-Soviet border conflict - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NORAD False Alarm almost caused the US to "counterlaunch":
CBC Digital Archives - Norad: Watching the Skies - Norad false alarm causes uproar

STANISLAV PETROV:

Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (Russian: Станисла́в Евгра́фович Петро́в; born c. 1939) is a retired lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. On September 26, 1983 he was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early warning system when the system reported a missile being launched from the United States. Petrov judged that the report was a false alarm. This decision may have prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its Western allies. Investigation later confirmed that the satellite warning system had malfunctioned.

This though is by far the craziest one. Never heard about it until today:

January 25, 1995: A team of Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black Brant XII four-stage sounding rocket from the Andøya Rocket Range, with the goal of studying the aurora borealis. The rocket, which bore resemblance to a US Navy submarine-launched Trident missile, was detected by the Olenegorsk early warning radar station in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. The rocket's predicted trajectory, as well as its overall shape and appearance, lead the Russian military to believe it was in fact a Trident nuclear missile launched from a US Navy submarine and aimed at Moscow. Russian nuclear forces were put on high alert, and Russian submarine commanders were ordered to go into a state of combat readiness and prepare for nuclear retaliation. The nuclear weapons command briefcase was brought to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who in turn activated his "nuclear keys" in preparation for a response strike. However, after a few minutes, Russian observers were able to determine that the rocket was heading away from Russian airspace and was not a threat, leading Russian military officials to demobilize. This incident was the first and only time in which a nuclear weapons state activated its nuclear briefcase and prepared to launch an attack.

Norwegian rocket incident - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[mbewane]

 

[Orbital-Fetus]

you know Boris got his drink on after that one.

 

[88m3]

good stuff I hadn't heard about the last one either..
I can imagine the scientists thinking it would be a good idea though like .
Lets go launch this missile over the arctic team!