Mystery: Why is NASA training astronauts in Medieval Weaponry

I am a member of a very large organization founded upon the study and practical recreation of the lost arts of Medieval and Rennaisance combat. However, as mentioned in the title, the head of our organization was recently contacted by NASA to ascertain the viability of utilizing him to personally train their astronauts in Medieval weaponry and fighting. Unfortunatley, NASA didn't give him an explanation of the relevance or need for such training, so I now pose the question to my intrepid conspiracy theorists, since the majority of my organizations musings have been just that (consipiracy theories).

My own thoughts (while trying my best to maintain some sort of realistic relevancy) have hovered around the potential for military actions in space. If that is the case, it stands to reason that projectile weapons would be perhaps prohibitive in a fragile spacecraft, whereas melee weapons tend to cause a lot less collateral damage.

How about the rest of ATS, what say you?

reply to post by Wayfarer


really interesting post.....your question unlocks doors that I think we only speculated on. If your information (not that I am questioning it) is accurate, I think your theory would be the only real alternative.

Time travel to past periods where such skills may be necessary?

Or maybe they are just bored out of their wits?

reply to post by Wayfarer


Maybe its to plan for the manned Mars mission.On the astronauts return to Earth, they discover years have gone by and the Planet is ruled by Apes and their only weapons are a mace, broadsword and battle axe.

samurai sword astronaut space wars on the moon????????????????
probably..www.reuters.com...

reply to post by Wayfarer
Presuming your friend actually was contacted by a representative of NASA, I think your theory is plausible. But under what circumstances would they expect to engage in hand-to-hand combat aboard any space craft anyway? Maybe it had nothing at all to do with official business, maybe it was purely a recreational inquiry.

Seems to me our tech-based civilisation is extremely vulnerable. A decent EMP would take out all but the most hardened electronics. Think about how many items we use every day which contain electronic components! I aknowledge most of our American friends are armed and proficient in the use of projectile weapons, but seriously, there isn't an infinite supply of ammunition, so sooner or later pistols become throwing weapons and rifles become bludgeons. Perhaps that is the eventuality NASA is preparing for... I really like the time-travel idea too!

Originally posted by kalunom
Time travel to past periods where such skills may be necessary?

Or maybe they are just bored out of their wits?

this..

reply to post by Wayfarer


My guess is some kind of team builing excercises...
I doubt it's anything more than that...
Sorry

reply to post by Wayfarer


Very interesting post. Thank you OP.

This could very well be the beginning of our Space Marines.

Joking aside, with necessity of budget concerns in space ventures requiring multinational cooperation, I wouldn't put it past a security minded arm of the U.S. gov to require such training in case social cohesion in long term manned space missions breaks down between nationalities where hostile nationalistic factions could occur.

As to why training in anachronistic weaponry and tactics may be being explored over Special Forces training in improvised weaponry and tactics, other than scenarios that are the stuff of science fiction and fantasy like time travel, blending in on planet Valhalla, or something, I wouldn't know.

maybe he got punk'd ?

when a buddy of mine was a broker back in about '87 he got so bored one day he made about 50 prank calls. he would order a dumpster for random people, chinese food, boulder removal, etc

70's Disney flick predicts the future? (past??)

Unidentified Flying Oddball, also known as The Spaceman and King Arthur, (1979) is Disney’s film adaptation of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It was directed by Russ Mayberry. Subsequently re-released in the United States under the titles The Spaceman and King Arthur and A Spaceman in King Arthur’s Court, and directed by Russ Mayberry, the film starred Dennis Dugan as astronaut Tom Trimble who unintentionally travels back in time with his look-alike android Hermes. Trimble’s NASA spacecraft travels faster than the speed of light, landing him and the android near King Arthur’s Camelot, where – with the aid of their 20th century technology – they must defeat a plot by the evil Sir Mordred and Merlin to oust King Arthur from the throne.

en.wikipedia.org...

This movie is a must see BTW...

agreed^^ no doubt a team building thing, it was either medievil fighting or paintball.
but i like the idea of them finding a wormhole back to camelot.

How about... now that they have to ride the Soyuz to get to the ISS, they dont get to land on a nice runway next to home base.
The Soyuz comes down usually somewhere in the deserts of Kazakhstan in central Asia, where things can get wild and the natives might not be 100 percent friendly. At night.
Thats my idea, anyway.

Wow... brilliant thread (if indeed true... I don't mean to doubt, but I'm sure you've read some of the crazy stuff on here too)! I can't help but think of Dune and their vibroblades! Maybe the training with medieval weapons isn't for the use of medieval weapons but for new ones currently unheard of that resemble medieval weapons (that are non-projectile based to be a less of a threat in space). Also can't help thinking about something I heard of having troops based in space ready to be deployed anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes.

I find it funny that they are training astronauts at all... isn't there a lack of a astronaut carrying shuttle these days? What are they preparing for?

Imagine weilding a mace on a planet with lower gravity lol would be amazing.

What does your job entail?

Interesting! You must tell us all if you become privy to the reason given by NASA. They must fully expect the possibility of their astronauts needing this training or otherwise why do it? Isn't NASA a tad money strapped to be thinking about a just in case "aliens with medieval weaponry are discovered and we cant shoot guns 'cos we are in space" scenario comes along?

Im looking forward to finding out if they go through with this and in what depth too. Please let us know if you find out!


Dae

can you magine swinging a broadsword in zero Gs?

Have any of you actually used medieval weapons? In order to use a sword you must have firm footing. How can you have that in low/no gravity? The whole "equal and opposite reaction" thing would negate the use of maces, flails, clubs, swords etc... I mean seriously. Also you concern about bullets penetrating the capsule would be significantly reduced by the use of frangible ammunition.

I may be totally crazy here. But the guys I work for, usually gives all the employees an extra bonus once every few years, by doing something crazy, like paying for everyone to learn how to hunt, play paintball, heck once they even took us all to an archery course for 3 days, where we not only learned to shoot with bows and crossbows, but also got to test a ballista looking machine.

Anyhow, with the kinda money NASA got, couldnt it be possible that the geeks there thought: "Hey! Lets learn how to fight and go nuts like they did in the medieval times. Lets play World of Warcraft in real life!" or something like that.. you know what I mean.

Isnt it at least possible that it could simply be for the fun of it and bringing coworkers closer together, with something cool like that?