Astronauts face many challenges going into outer space, but do some of those challenges require a gun? - Photo was AI was generated
IT sounds like the plot of some sci-fi or action movie; astronauts heading into space with a special gun packed away among all their gear.
Indeed, it has been claimed that Russian astronauts - more accurately called cosmonauts - once carried a weapon that was a combination of a shotgun, rifle and machete with them when they blasted off into outer space.
Is this true or is this just some strange science fiction?
Verdict:
TRUE
Yes, Soviet and now Russian cosmonauts actually carried such a weapon in their survival kits and no, it was not meant to shoot at space explorers from rival nations.
This weapon was called the TP-82 and it really did consist of three different weapons blended into one device; a double-barreled shotgun capable of firing 12.5mm shells and signal flares, a smaller barrel below it for the 5.45mm bullet used by the AK-74 rifle and finally the shoulder stock could be removed and used as a machete.
Along with this, cosmonauts also carried a few dozen rounds of three types of ammunition in a belt attached to the weapon - rifle bullets, shotgun shells and flares.
And as for why cosmonauts carried this weapon, space historian James Oberg explained in a November 2014 article for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers magazine Spectrum that it was part of their emergency survival kit.
The triple-barreled TP-82 pistol with its various accoutrements on display at Saint-Petersburg Artillery museum
He also spoke of his campaign to get the TP-82 removed from the kit carried on the Soyuz spacecraft, saying that the presence of the gun might be an invitation for disaster if psychological issues were to emerge.
"I proposed that to guarantee the gun only be usable in an off-course landing (its official purpose), it be stashed in a compartment accessible only from outside the Soyuz, after landing. There never was any response to my helpful suggestions," said Oberg.
He added that the TP-82 has since been removed from the Soyuz survival kit in more recent space missions as of the time of the 1984 article, citing his interactions with astronauts and cosmonauts.
Oberg said that when asked at a 2013 press conference at Houston, Texas, the commander of an upcoming launch said that the gun had been carried "earlier" as the practice had been stopped a few years prior to their conversation.
He then added in the article what happened when he asked another crew heading to the International Space Station a few months later, saying that Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti "had a really good story" about the TP-82.
Oberg said that at her final exams in Moscow, Cristoforetti had been asked to list the contents of the Soyuz emergency landing survival kit. She wrote them on the chalkboard in front of the review committee, and explained the use of each item.
She then added that a gun had been part of the Soyuz survival kit but had since been removed.
"The board chairman, after congratulating her on a perfect score, corrected her on her extra comment saying that the pistol is still on the official list of kit contents, but before every mission the list is reviewed and the vote is to remove it," said Oberg.
So yes, cosmonauts did carry a special gun into space - but they don't anymore.
References:
1. https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-i-stop-cosmonauts-carrying-guns
