OT: Russian "Almaz" Space Station

[Marc]

do not know for sure, but I suppose that there is no need for them to carry any kind of personal weaponry. NASA control center is well aware of the current position, trajectory and velocity of the shuttle in every moment, even in the case of a problem during the reentry that forced the shuttle to make a forced landing. They will know in advance (if limited) the location of the landing/crash site. If such a thing happens in a hostile area, US government will apply the corresponding pressure and deploy a rescue team inf needed (possibly in advance). This will be the best protection for the crew.
Perhaps the NASA staff thinks that is better for the security of the crews and the shuttles not to have weapons on board. Delicate machinery and electronics, weapons and an work plenty od stressful situations can be a bad combination.
Ei! Just an opinion. I have no info about the subject! BTW, the rescue of a shuttle crew in hostile territory after a succesful forced landing is a good scenatio seed. Mmmm... I must annotate it...

[chico20854]

BTW, the rescue of a shuttle crew in hostile territory after a succesful forced landing is a good scenatio seed. Mmmm... I must annotate it...

There was a scenario in Challenge Magazine about the rescue of one of the shuttle crews from West Africa, I believe.

[Rainbow Six]

There was a scenario in Challenge Magazine about the rescue of one of the shuttle crews from West Africa, I believe.

You're right...I could be wrong but I think it was the Gambia the scenario was set in.

Our original conversation was actually about how different Planet of the Apes could have been if Charlton Heston and his crew had been armed with M16's when they first encountered the gorillas (bear in mind we were in the pub at the time and had had a few beers...).

[Marc]

There was a scenario in Challenge Magazine about the rescue of one of the shuttle crews from West Africa, I believe.

Thanks Chico! I will look for it.

[Marc]

You're right...I could be wrong but I think it was the Gambia the scenario was set in.
Our original conversation was actually about how different Planet of the Apes could have been if Charlton Heston and his crew had been armed with M16's when they first encountered the gorillas (bear in mind we were in the pub at the time and had had a few beers...).

Ah! A productive pub discussion about a transcendental matters....
By the way, you make me remember a sci-fi TV serie I saw when I was child. I do not remember the title, but it was about an international expedition that returns to Earth from, I think, one of the moons of Jupiter. The members of the expedition are from USA, European Union, Soviet Union and other countries. Japan, perhaps They manage to make a forced landing in a desert area but nobody goes to pick them up. They are unable to communicate with anybody (I do not remember the reason), but among the group, the theory that a world war has erupted while they are returning to Earth begin to rise...
You make me remember it because they don't have any sidearm but one of the astronauts kills one of the other crewmembers with a flare pistol.
BTW, anyone knows the title of the TV-serie I've tried to make some google research without results... Mmmm...perhaps it was a film...

[Targan]

The T2K mini module Falling Fragments of a Dream was published in Challenge issue 44 and is basically a brief synopsis of what happened to major US and Soviet space hardware during the Twilight War. It does indeed state that the space shuttle Columbia was forced to make an emergency landing in Gambia. It also talks about where the Soviet descent modules carrying the crew of Mir came down. I have Falling Fragments as a pdf file and I've also turned it into an MS Word document. I'm happy to provide it by email in either format to whomever wants it.

[Marc]

The T2K mini module Falling Fragments of a Dream was published in Challenge issue 44 and is basically a brief synopsis of what happened to major US and Soviet space hardware during the Twilight War. It does indeed state that the space shuttle Columbia was forced to make an emergency landing in Gambia. It also talks about where the Soviet descent modules carrying the crew of Mir came down. I have Falling Fragments as a pdf file and I've also turned it into an MS Word document. I'm happy to provide it by email in either format to whomever wants it.

Thank you very much, Targan. I've managed to get the Challenge #44 by... those magical means...shhhhh... I've discovered by chance the existence of Challenge Magazine this year (ups! this past year). Good material. I suppose it was never available here in Spain. Another time, I must be grateful to Internet and to people who choose to share this material.

[MW Turnage]

This thread has reminded me of a conversation that my mates and I had in the pub a while ago.

Does anyone know if any sort of weapons were ever carried on the space shuttle (or other manned US space prorammes for that matter) Not heavy weapons for attacking Soviet satellites etc, but sidearms or assault rifles that could be used for self defence if the shuttle returned to earth somewhere unfriendly...

I'm almost 100% certain that there's never been any defensive arms carried on US craft. There was never a need, really: the capsules would never survive a non-water landing, and the probability of an AR-7 or the sort being useful were too slim by several orders of magnitude to justify the weight, space and risk. As for the Shuttle, every conceivable strip that could be used in an abort have already been scouted and prepared for, with folks already prepped and on alert on the ground during a launch. The orbiter is just simply not going to survive a landing if things are bad enough that none of those can be reached.

Now the Soviets and Russians did have a survival weapon in their capsules from the late 80s until 2006: the TP-82. It had two .50 smoothbore barrels and a rifled 5.45 barrel underneath, plus a stock that doubled as a machete. There was only a small production run on the ammo and the remaining rounds were considered dicey enough that they've since gone to a regular automatic pistol (I haven't seen a reference to what model, though). The Cosmonaut corps insisted on this after a capsule went far off-course in the late 70s/early 80s and the crew spent a long night facing off a pack of wolves in Siberia.

[jester]

Ah! A productive pub discussion about a transcendental matters....
By the way, you make me remember a sci-fi TV serie I saw when I was child. I do not remember the title, but it was about an international expedition that returns to Earth from, I think, one of the moons of Jupiter. The members of the expedition are from USA, European Union, Soviet Union and other countries. Japan, perhaps They manage to make a forced landing in a desert area but nobody goes to pick them up. They are unable to communicate with anybody (I do not remember the reason), but among the group, the theory that a world war has erupted while they are returning to Earth begin to rise...
You make me remember it because they don't have any sidearm but one of the astronauts kills one of the other crewmembers with a flare pistol.
BTW, anyone knows the title of the TV-serie I've tried to make some google research without results... Mmmm...perhaps it was a film...

There was an original Twilight Zone episode along those lines where they asrtonauts land on a barren desert without water. 1 of their number is injured. However, they all had revolvers and 1 sten of all things. Then the injured man dies of questionable circumstances, another runs off in the night and two go out scouting and 1 returns. The last two fight it out, all to find they crash landed in the Nevada desert just over the ridge from Vegas.

[Marc]

There was an original Twilight Zone episode along those lines where they asrtonauts land on a barren desert without water. 1 of their number is injured. However, they all had revolvers and 1 sten of all things. Then the injured man dies of questionable circumstances, another runs off in the night and two go out scouting and 1 returns. The last two fight it out, all to find they crash landed in the Nevada desert just over the ridge from Vegas.

Probably I saw some kind of remake about the same idea. Even the end seems similar, too.

[Nowhere Man 1966]

You're right...I could be wrong but I think it was the Gambia the scenario was set in.

Our original conversation was actually about how different Planet of the Apes could have been if Charlton Heston and his crew had been armed with M16's when they first encountered the gorillas (bear in mind we were in the pub at the time and had had a few beers...).

Yeah, same here with a few of my friends although I would have had Charleton Heston and crew using Tommy guns or something like MP-5's. I'm glad at least someone else had the same idea.

As to the shuttle crews, I don't know if they would be armed or not, but at the very least for each crewmember, they should have a .45 and a box of ammo in their survival kit like Slim Pickens had in "Dr. Strangelove."

Chuck

[Marc]

Bona nit!
Ah!!! Finally I've got the title. "Operation Ganymed", a 1977 german film. Thanks to Saint Google...

[unkated]

As to the shuttle crews, I don't know if they would be armed or not, but at the very least for each crewmember, they should have a .45 and a box of ammo in their survival kit like Slim Pickens had in Dr. Strangelove.

Major Kong:

Survival Kit contents check. In them you will find: one 45 caliber automatic, two boxes of ammunition, four days concentrated emergency rations, one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills, one miniature combination Rooshan phrase book and Bible, one hundred dollars in rubles, one hundred dollars in gold, nine packs of chewing gum, one issue of prophylactics, three lipsticks, three pair of nylon stockings -- shoot, a fellah could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff....


Uncle Ted