[quote author=MSNBC]All self-respecting “space cadets” of the 1950s carried holstered sidearms to fend off the spies, wandering carnivores and assorted bug-eyed monsters they might meet in space. That was Hollywood, of course. The notion that modern space cadets blast off carrying guns is so silly that space officials won't even talk about the idea. But that does not mean the astronauts are not armed.
In fact, Moscow’s latest diplomatic offensive to get a treaty banning weapons in space may be shot down by one of the proposed pact's little-noticed provisions: Nobody else should get to put weapons in space, but Russia gets to keep the ones it already has.
Cosmonauts regularly carry handguns on their Soyuz spacecraft — and actually, that's not unreasonable. There are practical and historical justifications.
Last fall’s off-course landing of a returning Russian Soyuz spaceship, with three fliers aboard, served as a reminder that unpleasant "contingencies" can occur on even the most sophisticated space mission. Prudence dictates that some precautions be made ahead of time to handle such problems, as long as the precautions don’t introduce more hazards than the original contingency they were designed to neutralize.
The potential for landing far off course, beyond the reach of rescue forces for hours if not days, has led Russian space engineers to add special emergency kits to their landing capsules. These kits contain food rations, water bottles, warm clothing, rope for making a shelter using the capsule’s parachute, fish hooks and miscellaneous other survival gear. Gemini and Apollo spacecraft carried similar kits.
For decades, the standard Soyuz survival pack has included a gun. And not just any gun, but a deluxe all-in-one weapon with three barrels and a folding stock that doubles as a shovel and contains a swing-out machete. Three types of ammunition — rifle bullets, shotgun shells and flares — come in a belt attached to the gun.[/quote]
Source and morehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23131359/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/russia-has-corner-guns-space/#.UCQEirUXLmd
In fact, Moscow’s latest diplomatic offensive to get a treaty banning weapons in space may be shot down by one of the proposed pact's little-noticed provisions: Nobody else should get to put weapons in space, but Russia gets to keep the ones it already has.
Cosmonauts regularly carry handguns on their Soyuz spacecraft — and actually, that's not unreasonable. There are practical and historical justifications.
Last fall’s off-course landing of a returning Russian Soyuz spaceship, with three fliers aboard, served as a reminder that unpleasant "contingencies" can occur on even the most sophisticated space mission. Prudence dictates that some precautions be made ahead of time to handle such problems, as long as the precautions don’t introduce more hazards than the original contingency they were designed to neutralize.
The potential for landing far off course, beyond the reach of rescue forces for hours if not days, has led Russian space engineers to add special emergency kits to their landing capsules. These kits contain food rations, water bottles, warm clothing, rope for making a shelter using the capsule’s parachute, fish hooks and miscellaneous other survival gear. Gemini and Apollo spacecraft carried similar kits.
For decades, the standard Soyuz survival pack has included a gun. And not just any gun, but a deluxe all-in-one weapon with three barrels and a folding stock that doubles as a shovel and contains a swing-out machete. Three types of ammunition — rifle bullets, shotgun shells and flares — come in a belt attached to the gun.[/quote]
Source and morehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23131359/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/russia-has-corner-guns-space/#.UCQEirUXLmd