In the era of early spaceflight, Soviet cosmonauts carried a unique three-barreled firearm into orbit—not for cosmic battles, but for protection during emergency landings on Earth.
The 1960s space race prompted the United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which banned nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction in orbit. Yet, this didn't prevent cosmonauts from bringing personal firearms on missions.
From Yuri Gagarin's time onward, crews flew with Makarov PM pistols, standard issue for Soviet police, intended for defense against wildlife or threats after an unplanned landing. But real-world experience showed limitations.
Pioneers Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev, veterans of the historic Voskhod 2 mission—the first with an extravehicular activity on March 18, 1965—faced this harsh reality. After a troubled flight, they landed 386 km off-target in Siberia's dense forest.
Rescue delays forced two nights in the wild, amid bears emerging from hibernation. Leonov later quipped of their Makarov, "The only thing we could do with that gun was shoot ourselves in the head."
Back on base, Leonov advocated for a better solution. Vladimir Paramonov of the Tulsky Oruzheiny Zavod factory designed the TP-82: three barrels for versatility—one for 5.45mm rifle rounds, one for 32mm shotgun shells, and one for flares. Its folding stock housed a machete and doubled as a shovel.
From 1982 to 2006, the TP-82 equipped Soyuz survival kits on all Russian missions. NASA astronauts, like Dave Wolf who spent 1997-98 on Mir, trained with it during Black Sea simulations, praising its balance, accuracy, and ease of use.
By the mid-2000s, it was replaced by the compact Makarov 9mm pistol used by Russian special forces. Space expert James Oberg reports cosmonauts phased out firearms from kits around 2013.
Oberg confirmed this in 2014 by asking cosmonauts post-conference: "The pistol in the emergency kit—are you still carrying it?" One smiled and shrugged, indicating it was gone.
Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti shared insight before her mission. During Moscow exams, she listed Soyuz kit contents, noting the gun's prior inclusion. The examiner corrected her: "No, the gun is still on the list. But before each mission, we review and vote to remove it."
Today, no weapons fly to the ISS, but Russian protocols theoretically allow them in survival kits.
