I stopped cosmonauts from carrying guns (2014)

> Fiendishly, I proposed that to guarantee the gun only be usable in an off-course landing (its official purpose), it be stashed in compartment accessible only from outside the Soyuz, after landing. There never was any response to my helpful suggestions.

If I recall correctly, this intended purpose was for killing bears and/or hunting for meat in the event that landing cosmonauts were stranded in Siberia.

> For decades, the standard Soyuz survival pack included a deluxe all-in-one pistol called the TOZ 82 with three barrels and a folding stock that doubled as a shovel and contained a swing-out machete. There were a few dozen rounds of three types of ammunition—rifle bullets, shotgun shells and flares—in a belt attached to the gun.

I’m not really a gun enthusiast, but I kind of want one of these!

> “The pistol is still on the official list of kit contents,” she recalled him saying. “But before every mission we meet to review that list and vote to remove it for this specific flight.”

> The reasons for this remain obscure. Her crewmate, Terry Virts, told me he suspected it was connected with the transfer of the cosmonaut training center from military to civilian jurisdiction. And there is growing pressure in Russia to return the center to military control.

Interesting that they vote to remove it rather than an official change to storing it in an external compartment. Then again, maybe the external compartment thing might be more dangerous than simply not having it?

Related:

I Stopped Cosmonauts from Carrying Guns (2014) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29607416 - Dec 2021 (2 comments)

Interesting article, but I don't see how the author contributed even in the slightest to getting the guns removed.

Hand cannon. Reminds me of the LeMat revolver.