Interesting Little Tidbit

[pmulcahy11b]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TP-82

Did we ever give our astronauts anything like this?

[Schone23666]

That doesn't surprise me. Those crazy-ass Russians, they think of everything, christ.

Not sure what the U.S. astronauts might be or have been carrying, if anything. If they are or were, they're not saying much about it.

But remember these guys also developed an underwater carbine for use by underwater Spetsnaz demolition teams. I believe it fired specialized flechette ammunition. Not sure if it was on your site or not, I'd have to look.

[Rainbow Six]

I remember asking a similar question a while ago following a pub conversation where my mates and I speculated about how much different the original Planet of the Apes film would have been if Charlton Heston and his crew had been armed with M16's. (I tried to search for the thread in question but I can't pull up anything using the search function and I can only view my previous 500 posts and I think it was before that).

If I remember correctly the original pub conversation ended up getting a bit silly when someone (it might have been me) speculated on what would have happened if the astronauts had started lobbing 60mm HE mortar rounds into the middle of Ape City...

I think the consensus of opinion at the time was that no, US space missions were not armed, although I don;t think there was 100% proof one way or the other...(although there was always Moonraker)

[Schone23666]

I remember asking a similar question a while ago following a pub conversation where my mates and I speculated about how much different the original Planet of the Apes film would have been if Charlton Heston and his crew had been armed with M16's. (I tried to search for the thread in question but I can't pull up anything using the search function and I can only view my previous 500 posts and I think it was before that).

If I remember correctly the original pub conversation ended up getting a bit silly when someone (it might have been me) speculated on what would have happened if the astronauts had started lobbing 60mm HE mortar rounds into the middle of Ape City...

I think the consensus of opinion at the time was that no, US space missions were not armed, although I don;t think there was 100% proof one way or the other...(although there was always Moonraker)

Well, keep in mind Vandenberg AFB in California, where they used to do a lot of orbital launches before they moved more of the activity to Cape Canaveral in Florida , is not too far away from a multitude of U.S. Marine bases. So it's not COMPLETELY outside the realm of possibility to be sending a couple platoons of Marines into space...

However as Moonraker was concerned, I was more interested in viewing the ladies in those little white miniskirts. :D

[stormlion1]

I know in the early Space Program the Mercury Astronauts had survival knives in there capsules. I remember reading Gus Grissom was trying to get his loose as a souvenir when his capsule door blew open. And no, the knife was no where near the hatch release.

[pmulcahy11b]

But remember these guys also developed an underwater carbine for use by underwater Spetsnaz demolition teams. I believe it fired specialized flechette ammunition. Not sure if it was on your site or not, I'd have to look.

Beat you to it, it's on my site!

http://www.pmulcahy.com/special-purpose_firearms/russian_special_purpose_handguns.htm

but I encourage you to find a picture. The magazine is giant!

Damn I miss pictures...

[Schone23666]

Beat you to it, it's on my site!

http://www.pmulcahy.com/special-purpose_firearms/russian_special_purpose_handguns.htm

but I encourage you to find a picture. The magazine is giant!

Damn I miss pictures...

Ask, and ye shall receive:

The KBP ADS assault rifle.
3035

The SPP-1 Underwater Pistol.
3033

And the APS Underwater Assault Rifle. (Must be a pain in the ass to cart around the magazines on that one...)
3034

What other forum can you get an eyeful of delicious eye candy AND exotic weaponry all in one thread? :p

[StainlessSteelCynic]

The USSR gave cosmonauts a firearm was because they chose to have the capsule return to land (preferably in remote areas away from prying capitalist eyes, areas like Siberia) rather than splash down in an ocean somewhere.
They recognized that the areas they chose for landing sites were inhabited by wild animals and as such, the cosmonauts needed something with which to protect themselves. Originally they were given PM pistols but after one landing incident they apparently recognized that 9x18mm was practically useless against wild animals so a competition was held to design a more useful survival weapon. Tula was the winner with the TP82

There's some decent images on The Firearm Blog here http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2007/10/13/tp-82-russian-space-pistol-shotgun-carbine-flare-gun-no-longer-being-carried-into-space/
And there's more info to be had here http://world.guns.ru/shotgun/rus/tp-2-e.html
and here
http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/unusual-firearms-russian-space-pistol.html
I remember the TP82 because one of the guys in my old gaming group made stats for it for his Dark Conspiracy game some years back and it seems that now there's a lot more public access info about it than a few years ago

Gratuitous images
breech
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md5eh6R8k51ro7afco1_400.jpg

[mpipes]

On one of the missions the Russians cosmonauts landed off course, and they were reportedly stalked by wolves, breaking out the guns and ammo just in case. They may have even used it to get some food.

US astronauts were issued a large weapon that looks like a cross between a bolo and a machete with a saw blade. They also had smaller survival knives if I remember right.

Seems kinda dumb and naïve for NASA NOT to have issued a survival gun of some type. There was always the possibility that the shuttle or any of the Apollo, Gemini, or Mercury missions would have to make an emergency descent and end up anyplace from the Amazon to the poles surrounded by aggressive wildlife or people. A polar bear, brown bear, or pride of lions may have thought they had a tasty meal coming. Guess after we have an astronaut eaten, NASA will respond.

[RN7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TP-82

Did we ever give our astronauts anything like this?

I think I mentioned this in my thread about T2K in space. Practical people the Russians, the Salyut 3 space station in the 1970's was also fitted with a 23mm canon.

[pmulcahy11b]

I think I mentioned this in my thread about T2K in space. Practical people the Russians, the Salyut 3 space station in the 1970's was also fitted with a 23mm canon.

What kind of monster recoil buffers did they use for that?

[stormlion1]

Think about this, the Russians probably still have a back up pistol on there spacecraft. So does that mean the Russians on the International Space Station are armed?

[RN7]

What kind of monster recoil buffers did they use for that?

The 23mm canon on maybe 30mm cannon on the Salyut 3 space station was either one of the three...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudelman-Rikhter_NR-23
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikhter_R-23
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudelman-Rikhter_NR-30

The gun on the Almaz military variant of the Salyut space station was verified by Soviet cosmonaut Pavel Popovich who visited the station in orbit. Testing the canon in orbit was ruled when cosmonaut's were on the station due to potential shaking of the station. The canon was fixed to the station in such a way that the only way to aim would have been to change the orientation of the entire station. Following the last manned mission to the station, the gun was commanded to be fired to depletion, while other sources say three test firings took place during the Salyut 3 mission.

[Olefin]

didnt Heston have a single Colt and three magazines for it in Planet of the Apes in the survival gear?

always loved the guns the Apes had - nice to see the M1 is still in use a thousand years in the future

[.45cultist]

When the U.S. was attempting to make a manned space photorecon mission, I imagine the kit would have been similar to the U2's. .22 silenced High Standards were the norm then. If he hadn't died in a plane crash, the mission would have had the first black astronaut in the 1960's.