In 1974, the Soviet Union launched Salyut 3, a military space station equipped with a 23mm Rikhter R 23 autocannon, derived from the radar directed tail gun of the Tupolev Tu 22 bomber. It was intended as a last resort against American spacecraft trying to approach, inspect or capture the station.
The gun was fixed to the station, so aiming it meant manoeuvring the entire 20 ton space station into position. There was also the small problem that firing it produced enough recoil and vibration to shake the station, so they never tested it with cosmonauts aboard. After the final crew had returned to Earth, ground controllers remotely fired the gun while using the station’s thrusters to counter the recoil.
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