For decades, the standard Soyuz survival pack has included a gun. And not just any gun, but a deluxe all-in-one weapon with three barrels and a folding stock that doubles as a shovel and contains a swing-out machete. Three types of ammunition — rifle bullets, shotgun shells and flares — come in a belt attached to the gun.
www.msnbc.msn.com...

Direct training
This is carried out in the relevant environments; e.g. at sea, in the forest and the desert (the last at Kazakhstan). Here the crew can integrate what they have learnt and gain valuable practical experience. Some survival tasks learnt include learning to build a makeshift shelter, firing the TP-82 (ТП-82) pistol and firing off flares (smoke and light).
suzymchale.com...

Originally posted by V Kaminski
The current publicly acknowledged STS shuttle orbiters in the NASA fleet have no weapons per se. None. No guns publicly other than a caulking gun called a T-RAD. Not on American craft or the ISS - no US guns.

Tools? Got lots, some "pointy and sharp" for working on machines and humans. Many instruments and devices with big capacitors too - zap! American manned launches before Shuttle did not have handguns either and were designed as "splash-down" vehicles - guns aren't much use bobbing around in the Pacific.

NASA does have plans for when an astronaut freaks out on orbit... Duct tape, tranqs (IM, IV and Oral) and bungees are the prescription. They have a full medicine cabinet. A Space.com article "NASA Has Plan for Unstable Astronauts". The article tells the story as far as NASA and spaceflight and handguns is concerned. I was unable to locate any policy documents at NASA on this to confirm. It also claims "During missions in 1985 and 1995, shuttle commanders put padlocks on the spaceships' hatches as a precaution since they didn't know the scientists aboard". The "new best way forward" is being worked up by NASA to respond to the recent Astronaut Health Study recommendations, "Findings of NASA Safety Review Following Astronaut Health Reviews". PDF's and video.

Do Russian Soyuz have weapons? Yes. A nifty sawed-off shotgun tucked under the commander's seat. There have been several types over the years. A Baikal double-barrel was the earliest and was made flight hardware after a Soyuz (hard-ground landing) crew was harassed by wolves.

More recently TTI-82 and TP-82 Russian 3 barrel scatterguns have been used. They all can fire shells, shot, or flares... the one three barrel deal has a small third barrel for something the equivalent of a 22 caliber-ish payload - not shot likely... a dart or bullet perhaps. A Russian handgun webpage with pics of the TTI-82 here. There are training photos of Anousheh Ansari discharging the weapon over at suzymchale.com and a piece on Soyuz Survival Training here.

Light Sabers? Yup. NASA will fly a "prop" this Fall according to The Flame Trench over at FloridaToday.com.

The Soyuz shotgun was last used on on the return of ISS Expedition 6 when the vehicle came up short 300KM and Cosmonaut Budarin discharged a few rounds to try and attract attention of locals while waiting for the ground support helicopters.

Here's a related ATS thread for those with an interest "Weaponry » Should the Space Shuttle Be Armed?"

Cheers,

Vic

Originally posted by Voxel
reply to post by G_Ponderovo

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From what I understand, the gun is meant to be used after the capsule reenters the earth's atmosphere and touches down. Unlike American capsules that land on water the Russian capsules tend to land on, um, land. The gun is meant to be used by the crew for protection from wild animals and to potentially hunt for food in the event that the crew can't be recovered before the first nightfall.

Jon

Originally posted by Voxel
reply to post by G_Ponderovo

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From what I understand, the gun is meant to be used after the capsule reenters the earth's atmosphere and touches down. Unlike American capsules that land on water the Russian capsules tend to land on, um, land. The gun is meant to be used by the crew for protection from wild animals and to potentially hunt for food in the event that the crew can't be recovered before the first nightfall.

Jon