NASA ordered lightweight semi-auto rifles

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Bluntone22

There's a short story called "the road not taken", it was in an anthology called, I believe, Future War.

The premise, which I found fascinating, was that, yes, the bad aliens had interstellar travel, but in every other way they were centuries behind Earth.

That might make for good science fiction but I dont think I would bank on the alien invaders being less advanced.

,a reply to: Bluntone22

Advanced or not, like anything else living they should be able to die. We are the most advanced animal on Earth, but every year people people die from bee allergies, bitten by venomous snakes, mauled by every kind of fanged mammals, consumed by reptiles and sharks.

Technological advances are relative. Flesh and blood is flesh and blood. A push dagger to an alien's vitals will still kill it. We could probably just as easily strangle them to death.

originally posted by: theatreboy

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: Wojwoda

It makes no sense. Obviously if we meet any extraterrestrials they would be so much more advanced our weapons will be useless.

Why does everyone think that they would be more advanced than us?

I think it has to do with them coming here, and us not capable of going "there" let alone knowing where "there" is.

NASA has an elite security force comprised of mainly ex-military and law enforcement personnel:

Here is an interesting read: NASA Hadquarters Protective Services Contract

Everybody getting ready for Space War I. Armed astronauts, DARPA testing balloons for network stability in case a lot of satellites are lost. Space Force.

If the satellites are going to start falling, I think I need something a little more robust than my tin foil hat.

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: Wojwoda
a reply to: ufoorbhunter

Ha!

Sounds like a good idea

Just thought they are a little bit late, the Russians armed their cosmonauts before (no idea about now) in case of crash/failed landing in the wild.

Yes. The TP-82 was a neat little package for what it was intended to do.

Who wouldn't want something to defend yourself? The light saber is a long way off, I think.

The ability to develop advanced tech might not be necessary.

Perhaps our "visitors" have "acquired" the interstellar travel tech from a more advanced species...

They don't have a clue what makes it work, but can certainly push the buttons and turn the dials that make it take them places. (Eerily similar to the vast majority of commuters on every urban highway on the face of the earth.)

Maybe that's what they do- go places, take everything they can, go to the next place.

There's a book in there somewhere....

Oh wait

originally posted by: Bluntone22

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Bluntone22

There's a short story called "the road not taken", it was in an anthology called, I believe, Future War.

The premise, which I found fascinating, was that, yes, the bad aliens had interstellar travel, but in every other way they were centuries behind Earth.

That might make for good science fiction but I dont think I would bank on the alien invaders being less advanced.

OK. Let's say we stumbled upon the key to FTL travel, even to the point of finding some ships that could do it so all we had to learn how to do was fly them. Kind of like dropping a motorcycle off in wagon train days. These folks might not understand how it worked, but they likely would learn to ride it. Would we therefore be more advanced because we could now do it?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, will acquire lightweight, semi-automatic rifles, a solicitation released via the US government’s Federal Business Opportunities website on 25 Jun revealed. NASA Shared Services Center posted a notice for procurement of a lightweight, 5.56×45mm, magazine-fed, gas-operated semi-automatic rifle designed to perform multiple uses under various conditions.

a reply to: Wojwoda

Sounds exactly like my Ruger Mini 14 rifle

Soviets in 1970 were supposed to have a Makarov 9 x 18 mm pistol in the Soyuz capsules sent to the SALYUT space station

en.wikipedia.org...

This was because of landing errors (VOSKHOD 2 and SOYUZ 5) which landed far off course in Ural Mountains

Crew were threatened by wolves while waiting for rescue

Also during Cold War, Bomber crews were equipped with M6 survival rifles in case crashed in remote area

Were single shot with 2 barrels , 22 Hornet and 410 shotgun to hunt game with

en.wikipedia.org...

US astronauts carried knives in their survival kits - Randall models were popular

www.randallknives.com...

a reply to: schuyler

Could a caveman use a cell phone?

What would those wagon train folks use for fuel?
Could they fix a flat?

Just saying it's a big stretch.

Could be anything.

Russian cosmonauts have a gun in the Soyuz capsule, in case the land off-target and need to fend for themselves for a few days (including any animal threat). en.wikipedia.org...

NASA might be going down the same road, basically, as they will expand on manned missions going to the Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc. Not all of these landings might be in the ocean, and even if they are, always good to have an option to defend yourself.

Just my 2 cents.

a reply to: Wojwoda

It's just an excuse for the next failed launch,Explosion etc
Yep we told them to keep the safety on during launch.
They didn't listen.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Although it would be interesting to see what a peaceful society's technology would look like. The majority of human history is figuring out ways to kill each other and then later adapting that technology for other purposes. I wonder what a society that discovered gun powder and said "we could use this to explore the stars" instead of "hey this would really help me kill my enemies" would be like

originally posted by: wildespace
NASA might be going down the same road, basically, as they will expand on manned missions going to the Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc. Not all of these landings might be in the ocean, and even if they are, always good to have an option to defend yourself.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the Apollo astronauts actually did carry a gun to the Moon. I suppose because "you never know."