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The Ultimate List of Weapons Astronauts Have Carried Into Orbit

brahmanknight

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http://gizmodo.com/the-ultimate-list-of-weapons-astronauts-have-carried-in-1768199454

Have you ever worried how real astronauts or cosmonauts can defend themselves or render harmless hostile life forms? What if an alien breaks into the International Space Station? Or a crew member loses his or her mind and goes berserk? The following set of images will put your mind to ease: aspacemen always carry some kind of weapon or at least a special tool which can be used as a weapon.

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TP-82, the Soviet machete gun
It is definitely not recommended to use firearms or other recoiling weapons in the kinetic weightlessness, but this does not mean that there are no such weapons in space. The Russian Soyuz Space capsule usually has weapons in its survival kit to protect astronauts from wild animals-especially bears–if it happened to land in remote forest regions, such as Siberia. The three barrel, two-over/one-under TP-82 gun was developed specifically for the Soyuz program. One barrel is for shooting cartridges, one is for firing shotgun shells, and the third to fire flares, and the removable stock can be used as a machete. The initiator and one of the participants in its development was cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first spacewalker, who once were stranded in a remote forest for days after landing. From 1982 until 2006, cosmonauts always carried a TP-82 into space-even to ISS–hidden in the Soyuz Portable Emergency-Survival Kit. (According to several news reports a regular semi-automatic pistol is used since 2007 because Roscosmos run out of stock of the special ammunition for TP-82).

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The first orbital survival knife (1960-0963)
Model 17 “Astro” hand-wrought survival knives created by Randall Made Knives were carried by Mercury astronauts. The fixed blade knives with a large guard and a 5.5 inch blade were strong enough to pry open the capsule hatch if needed, and featured a hollow handle to store survival essentials in case the spacecraft landed in rough terrain or in Soviet territory.

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Soviet laser pistols
Yes, these are real handheld laser weapons developed in the 1980s for cosmonauts. These futuristic pistols used pyrotechnic flashbulb ammunition, and their primary function was to disable optical sensors on enemy spacecraft or satellites. Allegedly the laser beams of these recoilless guns were energetic enough to burn through a helmet visor, or to blind anybody from 65 feet.
 
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