I have heard of this before, but have never seen any proof. I can remember reading once that Russian Cosmanauts used to take shotguns with them during their missions.


The purpose of this was not to fend off space aliens or anything crazy like that. They took them because during re-entry, sometimes their capsules would veer miles off course and would land in desolate areas that were so far from civilization that it would take a few hours for their rescue teams to get to them. The shotguns were to protect themselves from Wolves or any other predatory animals that might find them before their rescue teams did, and try to have them for lunch :eek:


Does anyone here know or have any info that supports American Astronauts ever taking any weapons into space with them?

I guess the risks of taking explosive substances into space, plus the extra weight, overcomes by far the possible use of them.

It is obvious that an accidentally discharged weapon could suddenly end the mission.

Originally posted by Dunkirk101
I have heard of this before, but have never seen any proof. I can remember reading once that Russian Cosmanauts used to take shotguns with them during their missions.


The purpose of this was not to fend off space aliens or anything crazy like that. They took them because during re-entry, sometimes their capsules would veer miles off course and would land in desolate areas that were so far from civilization that it would take a few hours for their rescue teams to get to them. The shotguns were to protect themselves from Wolves or any other predatory animals that might find them before their rescue teams did, and try to have them for lunch :eek:


Does anyone here know or have any info that supports American Astronauts ever taking any weapons into space with them?
It does not make any sense. First of all, the space capsules were intentionally landed in the ocean, so as not to plow gracelessly into the ground, killing the astronauts inside. I don't think wolves would swim way out there to get the astronauts. Even if the capsule was off course, the ocean is a large enough target to hit so as to allow for a great margin of error. Not only this, the rescue teams are circling around the area where the capsule is going to land long before it actually gets there.

Originally posted by BorgHunter
It does not make any sense. First of all, the space capsules were intentionally landed in the ocean, so as not to plow gracelessly into the ground, killing the astronauts inside. I don't think wolves would swim way out there to get the astronauts. Even if the capsule was off course, the ocean is a large enough target to hit so as to allow for a great margin of error. Not only this, the rescue teams are circling around the area where the capsule is going to land long before it actually gets there.

The US missions landed in the ocean, but the Soviets did indeed land on the ground - usually Siberia. In fact, the latest issue of Air & Space Smithsonian has an article written by a Cosmonaut about how they landed way off course and they had to freeze their ass off in the Siberian winter for two days until they could get to them.

Originally posted by LionelHutz
The US missions landed in the ocean, but the Soviets did indeed land on the ground - usually Siberia. In fact, the latest issue of Air & Space Smithsonian has an article written by a Cosmonaut about how they landed way off course and they had to freeze their ass off in the Siberian winter for two days until they could get to them.
Well, I was wrong, then...I suppose I could try to defend myself by saying that Dunkirk's question specifically asked for any incidences of Americans packing heat...but I'm not going to, because I didn't know that the Russians landed in Siberia, and my answer (when I was forming it up in my mind) referred to all astronauts.

Being right is overrated. ;)

Originally posted by BorgHunter
Well, I was wrong, then...I suppose I could try to defend myself by saying that Dunkirk's question specifically asked for any incidences of Americans packing heat...but I'm not going to, because I didn't know that the Russians landed in Siberia, and my answer (when I was forming it up in my mind) referred to all astronauts.

Being right is overrated. ;)

Don't worry about it borg, the Cold war was before your time :D

The Soviets landed in russia because they didn't want us snooping around with our navy.

Originally posted by LionelHutz
.... they had to freeze their ass off in the Siberian winter for two days until they could get to them.

now, the ONLY question i have is why you would spend so much money to send these men into space (with shotguns) and not equip the pod with some form of radio tracking.

Originally posted by MajiPirate
now, the ONLY question i have is why you would spend so much money to send these men into space (with shotguns) and not equip the pod with some form of radio tracking.

They had a pretty good idea of where they were, but they were surrounded by thick forests and deep snow, so they were pretty hard to get to. They ended up having to chop down an entire section of forest in order to land helicopters.