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The Russians take a pistol into space, and we take a RIDING CROP??? I'm so embarrassed!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/09/wpistol109.xml
Russians blast off without space pistol
By Bonnie Malkin and agencies
Last Updated: 1:51am BST 10/10/2007
Russia is sending its first cosmonaut for 20 years into space without a “space pistol”.
Russians blast off without space pistol
The gun was made in 1982
Yuri Malenchenko will join colleagues on a flight to the $100-billion International Space Station (ISS), but he will do it without the specially-designed weapon.
Created in 1982 and in service since 1986, the TP-82 pistol was not primarily designed to fend off hostile extra-terrestrials.
Instead it is meant to protect the shuttle’s crew after landing in a hostile environment back on earth.
The unique pistol has three barrels which fire hunting rounds as well as rifle bullets and signal flares. Its butt serves as a machete and a spade.
However, the gun's original ammunition has deteriorated so much it is no longer viable and no new bullets are available.
Nevertheless, the cosmonaut won't risk going into space completely unarmed. "Malenchenko will be taking with him a simple pistol.," a Russian space programme source said.
His will not be the only weapon on board the flight. ISS crew commander and US astronaut Peggy Whitson will be wielding a "kamcha" - a traditional Kazakh horse-whip, which a Russian space official advised her to take "as a symbol of a commander's authority on board".
"I do not believe I will have to use it," she said in Russian with a smile.
"Well, let's have it, just in case."
The voyage to the space station blasts off on Wednesday afternoon.
The Russian Soyuz rocket is due to dock with the ISS on Oct 12. Once in space, the astronauts will spend six months in orbit.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/09/wpistol109.xml
Russians blast off without space pistol
By Bonnie Malkin and agencies
Last Updated: 1:51am BST 10/10/2007
Russia is sending its first cosmonaut for 20 years into space without a “space pistol”.
Russians blast off without space pistol
The gun was made in 1982
Yuri Malenchenko will join colleagues on a flight to the $100-billion International Space Station (ISS), but he will do it without the specially-designed weapon.
Created in 1982 and in service since 1986, the TP-82 pistol was not primarily designed to fend off hostile extra-terrestrials.
Instead it is meant to protect the shuttle’s crew after landing in a hostile environment back on earth.
The unique pistol has three barrels which fire hunting rounds as well as rifle bullets and signal flares. Its butt serves as a machete and a spade.
However, the gun's original ammunition has deteriorated so much it is no longer viable and no new bullets are available.
Nevertheless, the cosmonaut won't risk going into space completely unarmed. "Malenchenko will be taking with him a simple pistol.," a Russian space programme source said.
His will not be the only weapon on board the flight. ISS crew commander and US astronaut Peggy Whitson will be wielding a "kamcha" - a traditional Kazakh horse-whip, which a Russian space official advised her to take "as a symbol of a commander's authority on board".
"I do not believe I will have to use it," she said in Russian with a smile.
"Well, let's have it, just in case."
The voyage to the space station blasts off on Wednesday afternoon.
The Russian Soyuz rocket is due to dock with the ISS on Oct 12. Once in space, the astronauts will spend six months in orbit.
