March 16, 2026 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, whom we welcome back from his vacation. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- The Shahroud Space Center in northeastern Iran suffered extensive damage from U.S./Israeli air strikes
According to the tweet, 27 locations were hit at the center, with nearly 70% of its existing building stock destroyed.
- The Soviet Union’s Salyut 3 station, launched in 1974 supposedly “carried a modified 23mm R-23M aircraft autocannon” on its exterior
The tweet says the Soviets tested it successfully just before de-orbiting the then unmanned station in 1975. While I know the Russians included handguns on some of its early stations, I have never heard this story before, so I must admit I am somewhat skeptical.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, whom we welcome back from his vacation. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- The Shahroud Space Center in northeastern Iran suffered extensive damage from U.S./Israeli air strikes
According to the tweet, 27 locations were hit at the center, with nearly 70% of its existing building stock destroyed.
- The Soviet Union’s Salyut 3 station, launched in 1974 supposedly “carried a modified 23mm R-23M aircraft autocannon” on its exterior
The tweet says the Soviets tested it successfully just before de-orbiting the then unmanned station in 1975. While I know the Russians included handguns on some of its early stations, I have never heard this story before, so I must admit I am somewhat skeptical.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Soviet Space handgun – intended for use if the spacecraft landed in hostile territory – Siberia (per the article)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TP-82
You had an article on this correct Bob
I’ve seen a number of references to an auto-cannon of some kind on a Soviet-era space station. The stories vary as to the precise model/caliber of the gun. I’m inclined to give these stories some credence as the Soviet Union was very much feeling its oats following the final ignominious US withdrawal from Vietnam and its final conquest by the North Vietnamese Soviet client-state in the period 1973 – 75. This seems very much the sort of thing the Soviets would have done during that period – crude and largely useless, but an expression of dominance.
Not much later, Soviet hubris had grown to such an extent that it essayed a campaign of dominance targeting Afghanistan, first by backing the overthrow of the King by a socialist and then, when he proved insufficiently pliable, a formal invasion and installation of a reliable native puppet as head of state. It was all downhill for the Soviet Union after that.
Now, of course, Putin has done something directly analogous in Ukraine and the result for the Russian Federation seems as though it will be identical – though much bloodier and also quicker, start-to-finish.