oh no! a GUN is on the space station!
My first thought is if they get attacked by some sort of alien, they will need it.
http://www.wesh.com/news/15298911/detail.html
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronauts aboard the International Space Station apparently have access to a gun.
Russian Cosmonauts carry a gun on their Soyuz space capsule, which is attached to the space station.
Survey: Should Space Station Have Gun?
Every spacecraft carries survival gear for crash landings, and the Russian Soyuz has a kit that includes the gun.
A photo of a space tourist using one version of the weapon is posted on his Web site.
But although the gun has been there for as long as the space station has been in orbit, its existence is kept quiet. NASA and Russian officials won't talk publicly about it.
Former NASA engineer Jim Oberg, who is an author and journalist, wrote about the gun on his Web site. He said the gun has no place in an environment where people are under such high stress.
"There have been cases of severe psychological strain on people in space, strain that they have taken out -- that their shipmates worried about the ultimate actions," Oberg said.
Experts said the idea of an astronaut losing control was unthinkable until one year ago, when Lisa Nowak shattered the myth.
Her own attorney said she was insane when arrested for hunting down another woman, and prosecutors said she was heavily armed.
Nowak had flown in space just seven months earlier.
Oberg knows an astronaut bent on orbital manslaughter could simply throw any number of switches to do the job, but he said the crews would be safer if the gun was locked up or left on Earth.
The gun is located in a survival kit between some seats aboard the Soyuz spacecraft. All the crewmembers know about it, and U.S. astronauts who fly aboard the Soyuz are trained to use it.
http://www.wesh.com/news/15298911/detail.html
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronauts aboard the International Space Station apparently have access to a gun.
Russian Cosmonauts carry a gun on their Soyuz space capsule, which is attached to the space station.
Survey: Should Space Station Have Gun?
Every spacecraft carries survival gear for crash landings, and the Russian Soyuz has a kit that includes the gun.
A photo of a space tourist using one version of the weapon is posted on his Web site.
But although the gun has been there for as long as the space station has been in orbit, its existence is kept quiet. NASA and Russian officials won't talk publicly about it.
Former NASA engineer Jim Oberg, who is an author and journalist, wrote about the gun on his Web site. He said the gun has no place in an environment where people are under such high stress.
"There have been cases of severe psychological strain on people in space, strain that they have taken out -- that their shipmates worried about the ultimate actions," Oberg said.
Experts said the idea of an astronaut losing control was unthinkable until one year ago, when Lisa Nowak shattered the myth.
Her own attorney said she was insane when arrested for hunting down another woman, and prosecutors said she was heavily armed.
Nowak had flown in space just seven months earlier.
Oberg knows an astronaut bent on orbital manslaughter could simply throw any number of switches to do the job, but he said the crews would be safer if the gun was locked up or left on Earth.
The gun is located in a survival kit between some seats aboard the Soyuz spacecraft. All the crewmembers know about it, and U.S. astronauts who fly aboard the Soyuz are trained to use it.
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Never know when the little green men will attack[:p] 0 -
Would it work in a zero-gravity environment? I'm not familiar enough with Physics to know the answer to that.
I guess it would work fine inside the station, until it blew a hole in the side of it.
And, you never know who will get Space Insanity... vodka makes you do strange things. For instance, it makes my wife naked. [:D]0 -
The gun would work fine in outer space.
If you were outside the station and fired, the bullet would go indefinitely. If you missed Mars and Jupiter the bullet would travel forever, with no loss of speed and no bullet drop.0 -
That thing they brought up on the Shuttle to shoot down Comets is a Big Gun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_(space_mission)0 -
So... Allow me to understand.
You sit on top of a Roman candle loaded with oxygen and fuel, you ride in fragile vehicle that protects you from a hostile environment just inches away, you don space suits so that you may move outside your vehicle into an even more dangerous arena...
AND SOMEBODY GETS TWISTED ABOUT A GUN? GIVE ME A BREAK!
I'm thinking that the Russians are the only sane ones. That gun is a tool just as is a pair of pliers. Nothing sinister about it. Certainly a tool that one hopes is never needed, but a very reasonable device to carry aboard.
Tell me that it's not the same thing as carrying a scattergun aboard a boat. Especially a cabin-type boat used for travel to remote locations beyond immediate assistance. Certainly we don't advertise it and we hope never to need it, BUT IT'S THERE.0 -
I wonder what kind of gun it is. 0 -
oh gee, how abot a cell phone with a big red 911 button. that's all they need. [/sarcasm] 0 -
quote:Originally posted by buschmaster
oh gee, how abot a cell phone with a big red 911 button. that's all they need. [/sarcasm]
The LEOs would get there in about the same amount of time as they do for the rest of us.0 -
quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
The gun would work fine in outer space.
If you were outside the station and fired, the bullet would go indefinitely. If you missed Mars and Jupiter the bullet would travel forever, with no loss of speed and no bullet drop.
Really?
So is the purpose of rockets in space to simply change direction? Otherwise, they'd be shut off and you'd travel without fuel consumption?0 -
quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
I wonder what kind of gun it is.
A GLOCK... of course!0 -
quote:Originally posted by peon
quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
I wonder what kind of gun it is.
A GLOCK... of course!
Probably right. Government agencies always farm stuff out to the lowest bidder. Why should the Russians be any different? They can keep a useless piece of crap locked up in a box. [:D]0 -
quote:Originally posted by spanielsells
quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
The gun would work fine in outer space.
If you were outside the station and fired, the bullet would go indefinitely. If you missed Mars and Jupiter the bullet would travel forever, with no loss of speed and no bullet drop.
Really?
So is the purpose of rockets in space to simply change direction? Otherwise, they'd be shut off and you'd travel without fuel consumption?
Right. In other words when we did the moon shots, once the space capsule left earth orbit it had no power. It just coased along. There is no air to slow down a moving object up there.0 -
how would the primer fire without oxygen? i dont see a gun working in space folks. 0 -
"how would the primer fire without oxygen? i dont see a gun working in space folks."
That is an outrageous remark. Why, I can recall reading a Dick Tracy comic in the Sunday paper in 1959 and bad guys were engaged in gunbattles with astronauts in outer space.0 -
quote:Originally posted by bobski
how would the primer fire without oxygen? i dont see a gun working in space folks.
In the cabin there is plenty of O2 in order to ignite.0 -
Allen, i agree, with one exception, he bullet would orbit the Sun and become a tiny planet just beyond Pluto [;)] 0 -
quote:Originally posted by bobski
how would the primer fire without oxygen? i dont see a gun working in space folks.
????
same way they fire underwater.... the oxygen is in the case...0 -
"no loss of speed and no bullet drop."
That would be an awesome hunting environment! Except, of course, for the whole 'no air, no animals, absolute zero temperatures, etc'.0 -
Yeah what a great hunting environment, for the rifle. You fire a 30-06 which has 2,900 fps and 3,000 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle.
At 1,000 yards the bullet would still have 2,900 fps and 3,000 foot pounds, and would not have dropped an inch. If your scope set 1 1/2 inches above the line of the bore, you would just sight it in 1 1/2 inches low, and 1,000 yards away the bullet would still be 1 1/2 inches low.0 -
quote:Originally posted by bobski
how would the primer fire without oxygen? i dont see a gun working in space folks.
I hope by "space" you mean outside of the station...there's no reason to assume it wouldn't fire inside the capsule
In any event, outside of the capsule, I'd imagine it would fire the same way a gun is fired underwater...using the oxygen present within the bullet itself0 -
The only problem is that once you fire the gun, you travel the opposite direction as the bullet. The speed of the bullet and your speed are directly related to the your mass and the bullet mass.
Yes cartages can fire underwater. The O2 is in the primer and powder.
But only if those two components remain dry.0 -
quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
The gun would work fine in outer space.
If you were outside the station and fired, the bullet would go indefinitely. If you missed Mars and Jupiter the bullet would travel forever, with no loss of speed and no bullet drop.
Umm....not quite. There would still be gravitational forces acting on the bullet but it would travel in a much more straight line than if fired on the surface of the body exerting that gravitational force. Remember, the gravitational force of the moon affects our tides here on earth.
Space is an ALMOST-perfect vacuum. That means that there are SOME air molecules present that could provide enough friction to stop that bullet EVENTUALLY. It may take a long time but it would eventually stop.0 -
quote:Originally posted by USN_Airdale
Allen, i agree, with one exception, he bullet would orbit the Sun and become a tiny planet just beyond Pluto [;)]
might even get pulled back to the sun some day and hit you in another lifetime.
I too am curious as to the type and manufacture of said weapon. I'm guessing it's The gold plated luger they captured off Hitler before turturing him and burning his body. It makes sense to use materials like Gold in an environment like space, less likely to get space rust an what-naught.0 -
Check this out.
Suppose you are on the space station, and something goes wrong and for various reasons your oxygen levels are dropping quickly. There is no way you could survive before a rescue attempt can be made.
Considering all of this; would you want a way to quickly end you pain and suffering when you start suffocating?
Trinity +++0 -
quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
The gun would work fine in outer space.
If you were outside the station and fired, the bullet would go indefinitely. If you missed Mars and Jupiter the bullet would travel forever, with no loss of speed and no bullet drop.
Not exactly true, while space is a vacuum, void, whatever, it is not empty as most assume. It is, in fact very full of of widely spaced apart elements. While the resistance is nearly zero it is present. I have no Idea how far it will travel...but if Newton is correct sooner or later it will have to stop!!! And that is not even taking account of the fact that the sun, planets and other bodies will have at least some gravitational affect as well!!!0 -
I believe that the gun is a shotgun. The Russians don't land in the ocean; they land in the Steppes (Russian version of out in the weeds). Apparently they have had trouble with wolves in the past when they haven't been picked up immediately. So they started packing a shotgun. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by stevemm
I believe that the gun is a shotgun. The Russians don't land in the ocean; they land in the Steppes (Russian version of out in the weeds). Apparently they have had trouble with wolves in the past when they haven't been picked up immediately. So they started packing a shotgun.
Gimme me a break..Wolves have better taste than that...0 -
To quote from the movie Red October "There are things in there that don't react well to bullets"[:D]
I can see it now. A discussion on GB about whether a 100 km shot on space elk is ethical or not.[:0]0 -
quote:allen griggs:
The gun would work fine in outer space.
If you were outside the station and fired, the bullet would go indefinitely. If you missed Mars and Jupiter the bullet would travel forever, with no loss of speed and no bullet drop.
Actually, not true, unless you would fire your bullet in 'deep space' - to exit the solar system, you need it to be moving about 37,500 miles per hour - the Sun's gravitational pull is something that must be taken into account.
[8D]0 -
quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
The gun would work fine in outer space.
If you were outside the station and fired, the bullet would go indefinitely. If you missed Mars and Jupiter the bullet would travel forever, with no loss of speed and no bullet drop.
The gun and bullet are in earth orbit, and are still gravitationally attracted to the earth (hence the circular route). It still takes a large amount of energy to break free of earth orbit. Much of the 3rd stage of the Saturn 5 was to simply move the Command/Service Module and the Lunar Lander from a near earth orbit to an much larger earth orbit that corresponded to the orbit of the moon.
I would guess that there is no firearm in existence that would impart escape velocity to a bullet if fired from the ISS.0
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