Leave it to the Soviets.........

The military space station project was actually called Almaz (Diamond) but they were announced to the world as members of the civilian Salyut series in order to conceal their military nature. They were similar in concept to the abortive USAF MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory) project, i.e. a manned spy satellite using cameras, radar and ELINT gear, which stayed in orbit for several years with crews exchanged at regualar intervals. Unlike MOL, Almaz would launch unmanned, with the first crew flying up to it on a subsequent Soyuz launch. Interestingly, the cannon was seen as a defensive feature, felt neccessary to protect the crew from assumed American interference/aggression.

Almaz 1 flew in April 1973 as "Salyut-2", but it was damaged during launch and never became operational.

Almaz 2 flew in June 1974 as "Salyut-3". The first crew reached it shortly thereafter and succesfully conducted surveillance ops, mainly over China. A second crew launched in August, but their rendezvous system failed and they had to return. One more automatic film capsule was ejected in September, then the station was de-orbited in January 1975.

Almaz 3 flew in June 1976 as "Salyut-5". There were three Soyuz mission to it, but the second one failed to dock and had to make an unplanned reentry. The crew then had one of the most hair-raising returns in spaceflight history, landing hundreds of miles off course, on a frozen lake, in the middle of a blizzard that grounded search helicopters, and had to spend the night fending off a pack of wolves with their survival gun (an interesting dual calibre shotgun/hunting rifle) before being rescued. Almaz-3 was de-orbited in August 1977.

The first three Almaz stations all had the 23mm cannon, but for Almaz-4 it was replaced by a battery of unguided rockets. However it never flew because the value of manned recce stations was being called into question and the Buran shuttle project was gobbling up funds. However the three partially buillt spacecraft were eventually converted to Almaz-T unmanned spy satellites. It's not clear whether they retained the armament, but it seems unlikely. After much wrangling over budgets and internal politics, they were flown in October 1986 (destroyed during launch), July 1987 (identified as "Cosmos-1870" publically) and March 1991 (the first to be publically identified as "Almaz-1").

A follow-on Almaz-2 series was planned, but the demise of the Soviet Union put paid to that.

There was another attempt to test an armed spacecraft in the 1980s, called Polyus, in response to America's SDI programme. This would be armed with a variety of experimental technologies including a recoilless cannon, a laser, a "nuclear mine dispenser"    and a device for deploying barium clouds in the path of hostile lasers (details are very sketchy, as you might imagine). Political support blew hot and cold, especially after Gorbachev came to power, but it was eventually launched in May 1987, riding piggyback on an Energia rocket (the launch system intended for the Buran shuttle).

Unfotunately, mating Polyus, which was based on a Zarya (Sunrise) space station module originally designed for conventional launch atop a booster, to the Energia had not gone smoothly. Engineers had been forced to install a booster in it's nose, which meant it had to perform a 180 deg flip after separating from the Energia. A malfunctioning guidance sensor turned this flip into a 360 deg one which meant the booster slowed the vehicle down instead of speeding it up, and it subsequently crashed into the Pacific Ocean. No more Polyus launches were attempted.

There has been discussion of using a hand gun in space for propulsion.  Fire the gun at 180 degrees to the intended direction of travel, and the recoil will  (allegedly) propel you.  I can't remember where/when I read this but it's an interesting concept.

Quote from: Rheged on January 07, 2025, 03:11:31 AMThere has been discussion of using a hand gun in space for propulsion.  Fire the gun at 180 degrees to the intended direction of travel, and the recoil will  (allegedly) propel you.  I can't remember where/when I read this but it's an interesting concept.

And the bullet?

Quote from: Rheged on January 07, 2025, 03:11:31 AMThere has been discussion of using a hand gun in space for propulsion.  Fire the gun at 180 degrees to the intended direction of travel, and the recoil will  (allegedly) propel you.  I can't remember where/when I read this but it's an interesting concept.

There was the Hand Held Maneuvering Unit, which achieved the same aim. There were several versions using gas propellants, more practical than a projectile.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand-held_maneuvering_unit

Quote from: Weaver on January 07, 2025, 01:59:19 AMThe crew then had one of the most hair-raising returns in spaceflight history, landing hundreds of miles off course, on a frozen lake, in the middle of a blizzard that grounded search helicopters, and had to spend the night fending off a pack of wolves with their survival gun (an interesting dual calibre shotgun/hunting rifle) before being rescued.

The TP-82 mentioned in the video? A sawn off shotgun, 9mm and machete combo, that's got to be one of the most interesting weapons I've ever heard of.
With whatever replaces YouTube in a few years time, it'd be interesting to see what a future reaction video would make of such a niche but practical (at least in concept) weapon.

Quote from: Mossie on January 07, 2025, 04:13:15 AM

Quote from: Weaver on January 07, 2025, 01:59:19 AMThe crew then had one of the most hair-raising returns in spaceflight history, landing hundreds of miles off course, on a frozen lake, in the middle of a blizzard that grounded search helicopters, and had to spend the night fending off a pack of wolves with their survival gun (an interesting dual calibre shotgun/hunting rifle) before being rescued.

The TP-82 mentioned in the video? A sawn off shotgun, 9mm and machete combo, that's got to be one of the most interesting weapons I've ever heard of.
With whatever replaces YouTube in a few years time, it'd be interesting to see what a future reaction video would make of such a niche but practical (at least in concept) weapon.

Looks like I got that a bit wrong: the TP-82 wasn't introduced until the 1980s, so the Almaz crew would have had Makarov pistols.

The TP-82 had two 40 gauge shotgun barrels and a 5.45 x 39mm (AK-74 ammo) barrel:

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

Quote from: Weaver on January 07, 2025, 04:41:27 AM

Quote from: Mossie on January 07, 2025, 04:13:15 AM

Quote from: Weaver on January 07, 2025, 01:59:19 AMThe crew then had one of the most hair-raising returns in spaceflight history, landing hundreds of miles off course, on a frozen lake, in the middle of a blizzard that grounded search helicopters, and had to spend the night fending off a pack of wolves with their survival gun (an interesting dual calibre shotgun/hunting rifle) before being rescued.

The TP-82 mentioned in the video? A sawn off shotgun, 9mm and machete combo, that's got to be one of the most interesting weapons I've ever heard of.
With whatever replaces YouTube in a few years time, it'd be interesting to see what a future reaction video would make of such a niche but practical (at least in concept) weapon.

Looks like I got that a bit wrong: the TP-82 wasn't introduced until the 1980s, so the Almaz crew would have had Makarov pistols.

The TP-82 had two 40 gauge shotgun barrels and a 5.45 x 39mm (AK-74 ammo) barrel:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TP-82
[/quote

Quote from: Weaver on January 07, 2025, 04:41:27 AM

Quote from: Mossie on January 07, 2025, 04:13:15 AM

Quote from: Weaver on January 07, 2025, 01:59:19 AMThe crew then had one of the most hair-raising returns in spaceflight history, landing hundreds of miles off course, on a frozen lake, in the middle of a blizzard that grounded search helicopters, and had to spend the night fending off a pack of wolves with their survival gun (an interesting dual calibre shotgun/hunting rifle) before being rescued.

The TP-82 mentioned in the video? A sawn off shotgun, 9mm and machete combo, that's got to be one of the most interesting weapons I've ever heard of.
With whatever replaces YouTube in a few years time, it'd be interesting to see what a future reaction video would make of such a niche but practical (at least in concept) weapon.

Looks like I got that a bit wrong: the TP-82 wasn't introduced until the 1980s, so the Almaz crew would have had Makarov pistols.

The TP-82 had two 40 gauge shotgun barrels and a 5.45 x 39mm (AK-74 ammo) barrel:

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

Ah, I'd read the article and confused the lower barrel with the 9mm Makarov mentioned.

I guess the 5.45 was for hunting, the shotgun for the large predators (and possibly bigger prey) and the machete for food and shelter.  That being said, I guess you could use the machete in a pinch against wolves or bears, wouldn't like to be the one using it though... 

Quote from: Rheged on January 07, 2025, 03:11:31 AMThere has been discussion of using a hand gun in space for propulsion.  Fire the gun at 180 degrees to the intended direction of travel, and the recoil will  (allegedly) propel you.  I can't remember where/when I read this but it's an interesting concept.

No "allegedly" about it: that's just a rocket with a very dense and dangerous reaction mass.

Quote from: zenrat on January 07, 2025, 03:39:12 AM

Quote from: Rheged on January 07, 2025, 03:11:31 AMThere has been discussion of using a hand gun in space for propulsion.  Fire the gun at 180 degrees to the intended direction of travel, and the recoil will  (allegedly) propel you.  I can't remember where/when I read this but it's an interesting concept.

And the bullet?

The bullet goes where ever ballistics take it. Depending on the direction, it might re-enter the atmosphere and disintegrate, or it might become another piece of orbital debris - if we are talking about doing it in orbit.

Quote from: perttime on January 07, 2025, 08:09:52 AM

Quote from: zenrat on January 07, 2025, 03:39:12 AM

Quote from: Rheged on January 07, 2025, 03:11:31 AMThere has been discussion of using a hand gun in space for propulsion.  Fire the gun at 180 degrees to the intended direction of travel, and the recoil will  (allegedly) propel you.  I can't remember where/when I read this but it's an interesting concept.

And the bullet?

The bullet goes where ever ballistics take it. Depending on the direction, it might re-enter the atmosphere and disintegrate, or it might become another piece of orbital debris - if we are talking about doing it in orbit.

Or your spacecraft...  dang!

I recall a short story set on the Moon. Might have been by Bova, Clarke, or Heinlein.

Set during the Cold War, the premise was of a visitor to the US Moonbase wondering about all the holes in the side of the upper base and why an alarm goes off forcing everyone below ground. The station commander explains that there was a shooting skirmish with the nearby Soviet Moonbase a while back.
As a result every few hours a slew of bullets swings around the lunar expanse and makes new holes.
'Not to worry' says this Colonel - 'in the interests of Peace in Space we're building a Lunar Wall...'

Quote from: Nick on January 07, 2025, 09:51:56 AMI recall a short story set on the Moon. Might have been by Bova, Clarke, or Heinlein.

Set during the Cold War, the premise was of a visitor to the US Moonbase wondering about all the holes in the side of the upper base and why an alarm goes off forcing everyone below ground. The station commander explains that there was a shooting skirmish with the nearby Soviet Moonbase a while back.
As a result every few hours a slew of bullets swings around the lunar expanse and makes new holes.
'Not to worry' says this Colonel - 'in the interests of Peace in Space we're building a Lunar Wall...'

There's also a rather one sided "firefight" in the Clive Cussler novel Cyclops where the lunar colonists of the "Jersey Colony" snipe at Soviet commandos turned cosmonauts.