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.
PBS Nova “Astrospies” about the USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) and the Salyut predecessor Almaz showed a “secret” Soviet era warehouse with a ground copy of Almaz including a 22 or 23 mm canon. They claimed to have fired it once after the crew departed (if memory serves). Searchable on well known video sharing platform.
Canada gets into the space race. Yea right.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/space-launch-pad-nova-scotia-9.7130406
Seems real enough:
https://www.twz.com/39277/heres-our-best-look-yet-at-russias-secretive-space-cannon-the-only-gun-ever-fired-in-space
The first payload of Energiya was the Polyus Skif-DM demonstrator.
Energia flew fine….the problem was the TKS-ferry/FGB tug. That was atop Polyus proper.
It was supposed to do a 180 and push Polyus to orbit…like our Shuttle orbiter ‘s OMS pods.
But it did a 360, and shoved the complex down instead.
Some suggest Gorby ordered that. There are photographs out there that show disdain on his face towards their space professionals. He and Putin Proxmire types.
Kevin: Do a search on Behind the Black for Nova Scotia and you will get the real dope on both proposed Canadian spaceports.
https://x.com/nasahistory/status/2033568977591365687?s=46
This is true. I was an OPFOR while an Army officer, and this is something I read of several times, some of it official. While I read as much about the US space program as I could while growing up (and I got to see several Apollo launches as a high schooler), the Soviet space program intrigued me as well.
Salyut was armed, as well as at least one other Soviet spacecraft. Part of that was in response to the US planning (and never deploying) the weirdly named Dyna-Soar, as their spooks (KGB, GRU) figured it was going to be a manned spy satellite, and they wanted an on-orbit fix, just in case.
Since the breakup of the USSR, there have been tons of oddities come out, some almost unbelievable. The armed Salyut? Yawn – another Russkie weapon.
Kevin,
One can certainly appreciate the desire of Canada for a sovereign launch capability given the frosty nature of recent relations between President Trump and Canada’s imported Prime Minister, but building a pad is only going to get it part-way there. It’ll need a Canadian-designed-and-built rocket too.
There’s a Canadian outfit called NordSpace working on both small (500 kg) and medium (5,000 kg) orbital launch vehicles, but it is also building its own spaceport facilities and not at the Maritime Launch Services (MLS) site where the newly-announced Canadian government-funded launch pad is to be built. The MLS site is near Canso, Nova Scotia. The NordSpace site – which it calls the Atlantic Spaceport Complex – is near St. Lawrence, Newfoundland and Labrador.
MLS isn’t in the rocket-building business, but has at least tentative agreements with UK-based Skyrora (XL vehicle), South Korea-based Innospace (Hanbit Nano vehicle), and Canada-based Reaction Dynamics (Aurora-8 vehicle) to use its spaceport. Skyrora hasn’t launched its rocket yet and neither has Reaction Dynamics (RD). Innospace’s Hanbit Nano has launched once, unsuccessfully, from Brazil’s Alcantara spaceport.
These are not large launch vehicles. All are less capable than the Rocket Lab Electron. Hanbit Nano’s payload capacity is only 90 kg. to Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO). RD’s Aurora-8 is intended to put a maximum of 200kg into SSO. The Skyrora XL is intended to put 315 kg into SSO. Hanbit Nano and Aurora-8 are both powered by hybrid engines using solid fuels and liquid oxidizers – LOX in the case of Hanbit Nano and hydrogen peroxide in the case of Aurora-8. The Skyrora XL is a liquid fuel rocket that uses RP-1 fuel and hydrogen peroxide oxidizer. Skyrora is hoping to get its first launch off later this year from the UK’s Saxavord launch site. Innospace has been making deals with several spaceports recently, but there is, as yet, no word on when or where Hanbit Nano will next attempt flight. RD’s Aurora-8 is not expected to launch for the first time until 2028.
When NordSpace will first attempt an orbital launch is also uncertain. It is planning to launch a sub-orbital vehicle named Taiga later this month. But there are dates currently on offer for the launch of either the 500 kg-class Tundra vehicle or the much larger 5,000 kg-class Titan.
One can speculate that the NordSpace Tundra and Titan are more PowerPoint-y than, say RD’s Aurora-8 at this point. That seems likely given that NordSpace was only founded in 2022. That might have been behind the choice of MLS’s site for the new Canadian government pad. Or there might have been some other politically-based reason for that choice. Whatever the case, it seems Canada won’t have a soup-to-nuts sovereign launch capability until at least 2028 – and most probably later, given the vicissitudes of rocket development.
Of course if some or all of Western Canada should chose to secede from Canada in the interim, then it will be an appreciably diminished Canada that inherits that sovereign space launch capability – and only then if the Maritime Provinces remain part of whatever Canadian entity is centered on Ontario. Should Quebec also leave Canada, the Maritimes will be physically cut off from Ontario. While both NordSpace and Reaction Dynamics are to have launch facilities in the Maritimes, NordSpace is headquartered in Ontario and Reaction Dynamics in Quebec. In quite a number of ways, Canada is living in interesting times these days and its native space industry is no exception.
Why a 23 mm auto cannon?
Just firing something that big would put quite a bit of force back into the craft plus the weight would be huge just to test if something will fire in outer space.
As for pistols I can see that for the Soviets. Landing, possibly days away from rescue, in dangerous territory, its a no brainier..
I would like to see a laser test to see exactly how far away we could “shoot” something in orbit. Fire a low level laser at a test target. Both in different orbits just to test out accuracy.
The USSF Space plane could be used as a test bed for this. It releases a target then it can fire at it even years later.
Starlink now has inter satellite links by laser. I can see why you want a gun in your spacecraft if landing where there are wolves.
A small clip-fed gun would just make a bear angry.
The old survival gun was a LeMat pistol on steroids..
rifle over shotgun if memory serves
https://www.reddit.com/r/ForgottenWeapons/comments/1bwphw2/the_tp82_a_triplebarreled_soviet_gun_that_was/
There was the TOZ-81
They even had a laser pistol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_laser_pistol
A strike very near a journalist
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/news-only-2026-israeli%E2%80%93united-states-strikes-on-iran.51226/page-14#post-891367