See The Massive Array Of Weapons That Astronauts Have Brought To Space

Could it be fear of the unknown or simply to put up a formidable arsenal up there just in case of anything happening don here? One can call it 'piling' or assembling of weapons.

We haven’t been notified of hostile aliens hovering in the upper atmosphere, yet after looking at a few of the weapons astronauts have packed, you really start to wonder what they’re  so worried about.

Of course, the alternative is that someone slips through the rigorous psychological testing of NASA and terror ensues on ISS.

The first orbital survival knife (1960-0963)(National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)

In either scenario, it’s best to be prepared, and here’s how space agencies have assured the survival of their best and brightest far from the weapons systems of home sweet home.

Model 17 “Astro” hand-wrought survival knives created by Randall Made Knives were carried by Mercury astronauts. The fixed blade knives with a large guard and a 5.5 inch blade were strong enough to pry open the capsule hatch if needed, and featured a hollow handle to store survival essentials in case the spacecraft landed in rough terrain or in Soviet territory.

It is definitely not recommended to use firearms or other recoiling weapons in the kinetic weightlessness, but this does not mean that there are no such weapons in space. The Russian Soyuz Space capsule usually has weapons in its survival kit to protect astronauts from wild animals-especially bears–if it happened to land in remote forest regions, such as Siberia. 

The three barrel, two-over/one-under TP-82 gun was developed specifically for the Soyuz program. One barrel is for shooting cartridges, one is for firing shotgun shells, and the third to fire flares, and the removable stock can be used as a machete… 

Full story HERE