64 years ago today, one American pilot flew alone over Cuba in an unarmed plane. He never came home, and the world stepped back from nuclear war the very next day. October 27, 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis was at its worst. Soviet nuclear missiles sat 90 miles from Florida, and nobody knew which side would blink. Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr., 35, of Greenville, South Carolina, was one of a handful of U-2 spy plane pilots flying over the island. No guns. No escort. Just cameras, a pressure suit, and more than 70,000 feet of sky. His photographs had helped prove the missiles were real. That morning he took off from Florida on his sixth mission over Cuba. Over the town of Banes, a Soviet-made surface-to-air missile exploded near his plane. Shrapnel tore through his pressure suit. He was killed almost instantly. He was the only American killed by enemy fire in the entire crisis. That same day, a Soviet submarine officer named Vasili Arkhipov refused to approve a nuclear torpedo launch. Some historians call it the most dangerous day in human history. President Kennedy did not strike back. Talks continued through the night. The next morning, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles. Kennedy personally ordered that Anderson receive the first Air Force Cross ever awarded and it was presented to his widow. His remains were returned through the United Nations, and he was buried near his hometown. Most people have never heard his name. The world remembers the men who made the deal. Remember the man who flew over the missiles so they could. Disclaimer: Based on U.S. Air Force history records and published accounts of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Some details are summarized. Photos: U.S. Air Force (first U-2; Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr. portrait; Cuba reconnaissance map), public domain; Cecil Stoughton, White House (ExComm meeting, Oct 29 1962), public domain; via Wikimedia Commons About the images: these are real archival photos, not AI. The White House meeting photo was taken two days after his death, and the U-2 shown is the first one ever built, not his plane.