The main theme of this book is the events related to the creation of our country's nuclear missile potential and the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, which culminated in the 1962 Caribbean crisis. Recently declassified documents in both the United States and Russia, the stories of Nikita Sergeevich and other eyewitnesses, as well as the personal impressions of the author who participated in the work on the creation of missiles, reproduce in detail the history of achieving strategic parity, which pushed back the threat of a third world war.