Photo by wbaiv
Firearms in Outer Space
Now this is an interesting tid bit.
First gun to ever to be taken into space
The first gun to be taken into space was holstered by Yuri Gagarin, who was also the first man in space. This Soviet cosmonaut allegedly carried a Makarov pistol on the Vostok 1 flight on April 12, 1961. He was to use the weapon as self defense in case he landed in hostile territory or came across dangerous wildlife when landing back on Earth.
The Largest Firearm ever to be taken into space
The Soviet Union between the years of 1986 and 2007 were equipping their cosmonauts with TP-82 firearms. This was a triple-barrel combo weapon with a pistol/carbine/shotgun and flaregun. It had a detachable stock that concealed a machete! Can you believe it? This thing weighed in at 5.3 lbs. and was also given as a form of protection against wild animals in the event they landed in the Siberian wilderness!
Really interesting, why don’t you try with longer post?
Thanks for the feedback, I’ll try to write another post with more details on this if it’s something you’d like to read. 🙂
they should invent a true space gun! A laser gun or a plasma at the least!
That would be very cool, especially if they were made available to the public. But there’s one problem with that, finding a real purpose for such things. These types of things always seem to fall into the wrong hands and another form of terrorism is born. I’m really not sure if they are still sending cosmonauts into space armed or not, but in the beginning they had no idea what they may come into contact with while on their journey.